Whitsend Market Garden

Hey Everyone:

I mentioned during a previous post that the garlic was now sown for next year.  There is plenty of info on this elsewhere in the blog, but for now, some thoughts...

Earlier this season, I knew that I would have to do something different for next year. 

There were many options to choose from, and I wanted time to consider each carefully.

However, seed garlic is only available for a short period in late summer, and the varieties that I prefer sell out quickly.

One of my options included concentrating on high value crops, and garlic is certainly one of these.  It is easy enough to sell due to the high demand, and would fit any of myplans for nest year.

So the work begins...

First, I choose the beds.  In my rotation system, fruits, tubers, bulbs, and flowers occupy the same space, as they have similar fertility requirements.  This narrows down my choices to about one quarter of the field.  

Next, I check my records that no green onions were planted here in the past four years, as I often inter plant these with other crops - usually fruits but there are  exceptions.  

The final consideration is sunlight and water.  I keep my onions and garlic in the sunniest locations to allow for the most growth.  I choose beds that are in well drained areas, particularly during the spring melt, as the garlic (unlike onions) do not tolerate being in a very wet bed for prolonged periods.  .  

Having selected the beds, each are cleaned up and then amended.

I add rock phosphate (the white chalk-like residue on the soil surface, pictured), compost, and leaf mold.  These are worked in with the wheel hoe, and then the bed is raked smooth. 

The last step is to draw my lines (three rows per bed) and then cross lines (one plant every six inches upon each row).

Using a dibble, holes are pressed into the ground to receive the cloves.


Then the cloves are brought out from the barn, where they were sitting out of the sun - garlic is very sensitive to sunlight.  Each is placed next to the holes while I ensure that the best cloves are being used.  If I have any final doubts about their health, now is the time to cull them out.  These are sent to the house, peeled, pared and frozen for personal use. 





The very small cloves are reserved for the green garlic.   These are planted in a different bed, as they will be harvested a lot earlier than the rest of the garlic. 




I use small stones to separate different varieties.  Most of this bed is Fish lake, with a little Puslinch filling out the end. 

After the cloves are patted into the soil, work on the next bed starts. 


One important consideration for placing my garlic (this applies to several other high volume crops as well) is whether to block them together or separate them. 







Separating crops beds helps ensure that if a pathogen or insect gets into one bed, it will not easily spread to the rest of the crop.  However, with onions, green onions, and garlic all growing on a sinagle acre field, it would be impractical to place much distance between these closely related crops. 

I also separate crops for seed saving, but as garlic isn't propagated by pollination, so this is not a consideration.

By placing high volume crops together, harvesting work is a little more efficient, as I will not have to move about the field; it also makes it easier to compare growth rates of different varieties.


The last step is to cover the beds with spelt straw.  This prevents the cloves from freezing in our Eastern Ontario winters.  I usually tot his in two stages.  After the first layer has matted down from some rain, I can see where any thin patches in the covering are

And so we wait for next year, when the increasing warmth and sunlight cue the garlic t o start growing.