Bed Marker for Garlic

[Diavolicchio]

I try to grow a good-sized patch of garlic every year, almost exclusively the hardneck types that send up scapes, or flower stalks. One other attribute that's distinct about hardneck types is that each clove needs to be planted by hand, which is one of the main reasons the majority of large commercial garlic plantings are softneck varieties; softnecks will grow fine, regardless of how the clove is dropped into the ground.

Because planting handneck types is more labor intensive, I created a 'bed marker' that would mark the location of each clove to be planted, so no additional time had to be spent trying to plant uniform rows. To do this, I bought a "lawn roller," like the kind you might see smoothing out a golf course, had the sides of the drum removed (since I wouldn't be filling it with water) and had a machinist weld metal cones onto the outside of the drum, spaced exactly as far apart as I wanted each garlic plant (6" x 8" grid.) I lucked out, because the circumference of the metal drum was a multiple of 8".


http://www.meticulum.com/gar_2.jpg

http://www.meticulum.com/gar_5.jpg

http://www.meticulum.com/gar_4.jpg


Once I form my garlic beds with a bed maker attached to the back of the tractor, I simply push this device right down the center of the bed and everything is perfectly marked for planting.

It takes about 5 minutes to mark a 360' bed (which will hold 2,160 plants.)


http://www.meticulum.com/backwoods_avatar4.jpg

[AlchemyAcres]

That's a cool idea!

I do something similar.
I use a piece of rubberized roofing with the holes properly spaced.
I move the sheet along and plant the garlic with a dibble.

I only plant about 1,000 cloves per year...which is plenty to supply all I need...and plenty to give away.

German Extra hardy, mainly.


~Martin

[Diavolicchio]

That's a cool idea!

I do something similar.
I use a piece of rubberized roofing with the holes properly spaced.
I move the sheet along and plant the garlic with a dibble.

I only plant about 1,000 cloves per year...which is plenty to supply all I need...and plenty to give away.

German Extra hardy, mainly.


Sounds like you and I are cut from the same cloth, Martin.


John

[nhlivefreeordie]

You guys are serious about it, I only planted 125 a few weeks ago. I still have plenty more cloves down in the basement that were given to me, but that is all the space I wanted to commit to it, ( I am still lobbying for more of the backyard to be tilled under.)

[Diavolicchio]

You guys are serious about it, I only planted 125 a few weeks ago. I still have plenty more cloves down in the basement that were given to me, but that is all the space I wanted to commit to it, ( I am still lobbying for more of the backyard to be tilled under.)

Garlic is a good cash crop, and grows especially well up in Northern New England. It would probably do quite well for you once you got some stock acclimated to your soil.


John

[DM]

We've always planted garlic here, although i don't plant near as much as i use to. Here's a little of it,

http://www.fototime.com/7EA8467C524F03E/standard.jpg

DM

[Travis]

Great idea. Doing something similar here. I am growing for just 5 of us and using the square foot gardening idea. For this I have 3 boards: 1 is for 1 plant so the hole is dead center, another is for 9 plants so I have 9 holes evenly spaced and lastly for 16 plants I have a board with 16 holes. This is year one for the boards so I am hoping it works as well as I hope.

[Ruby Lou]

Garlic is a good cash crop, and grows especially well up in Northern New England. It would probably do quite well for you once you got some stock acclimated to your soil.


John

John
I first saw your post early this year. Thought about it this afternoon and found it again.
A few questions:
Do you raise the beds to improve harvest efficiency? It seems you could run a sifter type machine below the heads. It would clean and separate at the same time.

We grow about 100 garlic a year. Buy from Johnny's usually, Seed is very expensive. Can we propagate for the following year from this years crop? We usually buy the German hardneck. I don't think it's a hybrid. If we use 20% of our crop as seed will we lose any vigor?

Thanks

[Diavolicchio]

Ruby Lou:

Ideally, you should be replanting your own stock, year after year. In order to get garlic to size up well in your soil, it needs to become accustomed to your soil chemistry, climate, etc. My advice is to set aside 20% of your harvest each year and replant it in the Fall. In general, the better the size and quality of the stock you replant, the better the size and quality of your next harvest. In other words, don't simply set aside the smallest, scrawniest stuff for replanting.

We have a bedmaker we use to form raised beds for our garlic, as you can see in the original pics I posted. Our focus over the past few years has been an orchard though, so we plant no more than 1/4 acre of garlic (we originally planted 2 acres each year.) Since we've scaled back this much, we simply harvest by hand, rather than buying an expensive piece of equipment to do the job.

Good luck!


John

[Ruby Lou]

Thanks John
We will start with your advice on seed garlic.
We grow enough for personal use only. Don't have time to look beyond that amount.

Thanks again