Too Late to Plant Garlic?
Forum Archives
risingmoon
Joined: Dec-04-2003
Location: Willamette Valley
Posted: Dec-04-2003 at 12:05pm
Hi! I'm newly registered here and looking to find out if it's still ok to plant garlic for next season now, in December in the Willamette Valley. Hillsboro, OR to be exact, outside of Portland. I've heard that you could still put it in and it would most likely do fine, but what about the wet soil? Anyone with any info would be greatly appreciated! THANKS!!
_ Rising Moon
trav
Location: United States
Posted: Dec-04-2003 at 4:23pm
If you have a raised bed available then go ahead - but mulching it well would probably be a good idea. Normally you plant garlic in the early fall so it has time to develop a decent set of roots before the soil gets really cold. If you plant it now, it'll be rather sensitive to the ground freezing - hence the mulch suggestion.
If you don't have a raised bed available then I wouldn't plant it unless you've got good winter drainage. But that's what I'd say even if you were planting in October. :-)
Around February 1 I'd suggest removing the mulch to give the soil a chance to start its slow warm-up. Be sure to give your crop a good dose of blood meal in February or early March, once the tops are poking through the ground.
You might find my article worthwhile reading - Garlic Lovers, Unite!
_
Travis
The Westside Gardener
New (well, sorta) - Updated vegetable garden timetable!
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: Dec-11-2003 at 10:15am
I second Travis' comments on planting now especially since the current forecast calls for a wetter/warmer next 90 days.
I do not anticipate a "ground heaving" frost this winter which we seldom get in Hillsboro, Olympia, or Sumner. We may have the same freeze timing this year as last winter with the coldest day on or about Haloween, only half way through fall. I have planted as late as Feb. but you'll pay a size penalty at harvest.
Raised beds help you avoid the diseases in your crop. My memory of the terain of Hillsboro would mean you have good drainage and only have to worry about overwatering near harvest.
_
Gary
Olympia
Sunset Zone 5, USDA Zone 8
AmyPNW
Location: Willamette Valley
Posted: Jan-30-2004 at 8:34pm
I have planted garlic as late as in the early spring. You will not get heads of garlic with late planted cloves but individual bulbs of garlic. Also there are varieties of garlic that are more suited to wetter soil. Killarney Red is one. There are many wonderful gourmet garlics available. I have Georgian Fire and Kettle River Giant in the ground this winter along with any number of leftover volunteers of other varieties.
Amy
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Feb-11-2004 at 5:03pm
Here is a bit of useful information about garlic. I had some space left in my raised bed for strawberries so I put my garlic in there--after doing very poorly I kind of gave up on garlic even though all the pamphlets said it was so easy to grow. I was reading about companion planting and found out that garlic an strawberries are NOT companions! Since I moved them out of the strawberry bed both the strawberies and and the garlic have done better. The strawberries are making berries rather than lots of leaves and runners and the garlic has make more than one large clove!
_ grammagt
Madrona
Location: Kitsap Peninsula
Posted: Feb-22-2004 at 9:41am
You can plant garlic all spring and summer to use fresh. An Indonesian guest introduced me to the joys of fresh garlic, which can be used almost like green onions, except that the green part is pretty tough.
If I have a little extra time, I will stick dried out culinary garlic bulbs in the ground for this purpose. Most of them will come up!
Even if you plant a good garlic crop in November, the fresh garlic will be welcome in summer before your new crop comes in.

Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton