We’re just past the Autumn Equinox here in South East Queensland Australia means garlic planting time.
We usually plant anytime from 21st of March right up to end of April, early May.
We’ve experimented with a lot of different types of Garlic, we’ve had a lot of fails over the years and we’ve landed on the Glenlarge Variety to be pretty consistent grower for us here. It is a softneck subtropical variety that grows fast, we plant in late March and usually harvest late August not like November like people down south.
My goal this year is to grow around 200 bulbs in 4 garden beds equating to just over 4 square metres.
Yes 200 is a lot of garlic, we probably only really eat around 52 bulbs a year which I could easily grow what we need in one garden bed, but I will need some to replant next year and then I sell the excess. It sells out quite quickly and people always get upset when they miss out. If I had more space I would grow more as it's one of my favourite things to grow.
Bed position is really important. We want a full sun position, and with the sun moving more towards the North you need to look out for those northern obstacles like trees and fences. We have our pomegranate tree in the way but it will be getting a big prune. Garlic does not like competition either so it’s why we always plant garlic solo.
This year I am growing in two raised beds, half of my vegepod and trying my luck with a wicking bed.
Bed preparation is key for garlic, we have had the best success with burying fish carcasses in the soil before planting, but this year we are going for some good quality compost from Red Soil organics, a bit of rock minerals, blood and bone and wood ash.
I soak my seed in a diluted solution of seaweed extract overnight, for this little half litre I’ve put only ¼ of teaspoon into the water. You can grab this extract from my website, a little goes a long way with this stuff.
Any cloves that are too small to plant I also blend up and freeze into ziplock bags as it doesn’t store well past the time it’s due to go back in the ground.
Glenlarge is a soft neck variety which means it’s a bit more forgiving on the space front. I do want large bulb development but I am also mindful of space. So I am going to experiment with different spacing. 10cm, 12cm and 15cm. It won’t be a true experiment as each of these beds will be different in general soil composition and also possibly sunshine.
I just make a little channel to around 5cm deep and pop the cloves in with the pointy tip to the sky.
At this point I add my mycorizahe fungi, this helps to enhance root development, improve nutrient absorption, and increase resistance to soil-borne diseases, leading to healthier plants and better bulb production.
I then backfill my channels cover lightly in sugarcane mulch and water in with diluted seaweed extract.
The early days are crucial for Garlic if your goal is large bulbs. Once they sprout I like to alternate with weekly liquid feeds of seaweed extract and fish hydrolysate. Once a month I either top dress with a bit of compost or add a sprinkling of Organix Xtra low release fertiliser.
Around a month before harvest I will stop watering and adding anything completely, they’re ready to come out when half of the leaves have started to die back. If you leave them to fully die back you will find that your cloves will start to pop off. I don’t wash them and just leave the stem on until they are fully dried off. Usually hanging them in a breezy position out of the weather.
Another thing I am starting now is onions. We’ve had mixed results with onions and they don’t get prime position because they take forever to grow. We opt for day neutral varieties such as the Gladalan brown or red creole which don’t take as long and usually can be harvested before the rains hit - when they are then prone to rotting.
Onions we do in trays and I plant quite densely. Unfortunately onion seeds do not have a long shelf life so I like to just use everything up in this one planting.
These will stay in these trays for ages, usually 6-8 weeks before I get them out in the garden which will hopefully give me time to decide where I am going to plant them.
I did also find some potato seed that I completely forgot about. As predicted the location of the vegepod right near the fence has just provided a smorgasbord for either a possum or rat and I’ve had no luck with growing lettuce here. So I am going to use it for these potatoes. They might be a bit past their use by date but it’s worth a shot. These potatoes are indeterminate which I didn’t think about until after I had planted them, which means they will require hilling. I’ll likely do that with straw or not at all depending on how I feel.
Anyway that’s our garlic, onion and potato planting done for now. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you guys next time.
