I have just received some Belarus type garlic,a gift.I have not grown garlic before,thinking about planting it in an old horse trough I had tomatoes growing in this year,now I know the soil is kind of spent,so what good compost should I add to inrich that soil up,my compost pile is not cooked up enough for me to use at the moment,I preety much used it up this spring,and this year I have been lazy about composting,but I do have a good pile cooking up in the pasture,but its all horse poo,would that be to strong for garlic?any ideas would be most helpful,I guess I have to mulch the garlic for the winter months,right? cw
I can tell you what i do, but i live in the Arctic. I start my garlic in June. Its in a huge container, with just regular dirt from outside. I make sure there is worms in the dirt. Then all summer long i drop coffee grinds, banana skins all chopped up, leaves from various plants that i have picked off for thinning, some grass i just pull up with my hands. I take and just dig it under the soil. I let the worms work their magic all winter long. I have taken dried cow manure and crumbled and put in their also. I keep chips of that in the shed and during the winter when i see plants needing a pick me up, i crumble some on top and water. No fuss, no muss. Come spring when the container can be put back out its usually ready to harvest. I also keep my container in our hall entry way so it stays cool, not cold but cooler than normal. Sometimes i'm even able to harvest in March or April. When i do harvest half the dirt is taken out and put into the compost heap, and fresh dirt is put in the container and mixed with the "composted" winter dirt that grew the garlic. It might work for you, i don't know,, the less work for me here the better...lol. I have enough as it is.
Gardenmama,where are you getting your sea shell compost.Would be grateful if you have a site you could post.cw.
I set the garlic out a couple of weeks before expected frost. Mulch a bit with leaves and let it grow. It usually grows to about 4 to 6 inches before hard frost. I harvest around July. Depends on how quickly leaves turn brown. When about half the leaves are brown, we pull it up.
