We still have some snow but my garlic started peeking through the mulch in December this year, and the beds that aren't snowed in look good thus far. I mulched very lightly this year, maybe 2" of shredded leaves at most, and I've got about an inch of growth showing. Can't wait for things to get going this spring!

My garlic, planted November 5th, emerged above the heavy grass clipping mulch before winter set in. This is never a problem, but this year the deer chewed the tops on many of the plants. That's a first as no critter has ever bothered my garlic in the 45 years I have been growing it! I'm sure they will recover.

Yesterday I rescued about 5% of the plants that didn't make it through the mulch by opening the mulch and pulling the bent tops upright. I'll be feeding them bloodmeal this week.

I tore down the old ineffective fencing around my garden at the end of last season, and will be building a new eight foot deer fence later this month when it warms a bit. For now I am vulnerable, so I bought a low power BB gun to chase the deer away with a good sting to their butts. It won't penetrate but should get their attention. The deer pressure in this area has been unusually heavy this past year.

Dutch - good to see you around and hope all is well up your way. I didn't start any onions from seed this year. I'm just going to buy my Dixondale plants locally like usual. Probably the usual Candy, Red candy, and Superstar. I did start some Megaton and King Richard leeks that are getting pretty good girth to them. I'll plant those out in a couple weeks.

Tom - That's scary! I've never had deer bother my garlic either other than them stepping on it. Right now I still have some welded wire fencing suspended over my bed to keep the deer off it and keep the tree rats from digging in the bed. I need to take that off soon though.

In years past I always had to liberate a good 10-20% of my plants from the shredded leaf mulch that I used. I didn't get around to mulching last fall and was concerned that I would have a lot of losses. I was pleasantly surprised that didn't happen. I may never mulch in the fall again. Weeds are now my concern so I will mulch this weekend to keep them in check.

Our deer herd seems to be growing fast here too. Turkey as well. Our deer numbers went down by almost 50% 5 or 6 years ago when there was a very dry year and Blue Tongue disease was rampant. They have now rebounded and then some.

lol I've been over on the hippeastrum and African violet lists this winter. Good to be back with the stinking rose. I think I will not start any onions this spring myself. This year I think I will be going with sets. I've got sweet potatoes going already, but they got white fly and that is my current headache.

I have never winter mulched my garlics and do not get winter kill. This is pure zone 4 as well. I try for summer mulch to keep the weeds down though.

We got raccoons, cottontails and tree rats here in south Minneapolis that mess with our gardens. We also have several metro flocks of wild turkeys and city coyotes, too. The turkeys are in the neighborhoods in fact. We also have mallards and Canada geese all winter. Every winter we also get tens of thousands of black crows and they should be breaking up here pretty soon. The warmer it gets the more the main flock breaks up into the neighborhoods. There are some real dramatic Youtube videos showing our winter crow flocks and they are NOT exaggerations, and I can tell you that from personal observation.

Sidewalks have finally melted clear of snow

What is this nonsense with houzz jumping around all over while one is trying to write a comment!!! Bah! I got no problem with any of the posters here but the venue sucks big stones.

Hello everyone! Happy new gardening year!

This years (mostly "Creoles") in buckets.

It's good to hear from everybody again. Spring is a hopeful time of year for those of us who fish the city lakes. We check around trying to verify that we have all made it into another year. Sadly not all of us always do... Same for gardening and the lists.

A bit early for my patch- it sits in one of the last places to have snow cover melt off. But poking up here and there in some open spots are little green shoots :)

I decided to rake my mulch on my garlic beds. The large leaves are just too heavy for the plants to poke out. All my uncovered daffodils have grown, but not my garlic. So I believe mulch layer is the problem. Over prior years, they have grown quite a bit by this time.

So it seems leave mulch layer is not a good idea. But still a good experiment.

I have a fairly light layer of shredded leaf mulch on my beds (maybe 2") and the garlic poked up just fine. The year I mulched with whole leaves it took much longer for them to get through. I fertilized two days ago with 1/2 oz urea per 16sf bed, right over the mulch. It was raining hard that day so I figured the urea would get watered in very well. Now that we are getting 50+ temps all of my bulbs and alliums are growing fast!

Got to take a good look at the garlic today while puttering around outside... and all the sections have green popping up well amongst the pine needles :) Most are only a couple inches tall, but a couple sections are already 4-5 inches tall!

Red,

leaf mulch is not an experiment my friend. Your garlic will pop through it just fine when it’s ready. Garlic requires Very little care! Your forcing the situation and the raking will do more harm to the fragile plants and stress them out. Just let them grow on their own.

Rich,

Not really. Those are large leaf red oak leaves, not shredded. After I pulled mulch, I saw some yellow garlic trying to come out, but could not.

Over previous years, I'd have had very good garlic growth by this time....

My bed is covered with 4-6" of hay. I checked it yesterday & there is no sign of growth yet, not surprising given that the snow covering it only melted a week ago.

I just raked my mulch layer. The growth is slow.

Below is a row uncovered. We can clearly tell the difference. They will take forever to fight through the mulch layer....

Warmer temps and a steady rain has my garlic patch showing face after a snowy winter in the Hudson valley. Leaves will stay as is for a few months. The worms make quick work of the leaves. By harvest time in late July the leaves are gone.

Spring is in the air. Robins and red wing blackbirds have found their way back. enjoy your Spring !

My garlics are up with very few missing. Very nice stands.

Interestingly the Brussels sprouts I left in the ground last fall seem to have over wintered too, along with a couple of cabbages and some carrots. Of course the walking onions and the scallions are also well sprouted too. Cottontails chewed the coles down pretty hard and the tree rats are "helping" my dig up the rest of the garden. I just wish they would not dig in the garlic beds! Lots of rainy weather now and everything is mud; so some dry down is going to be needed before much garden work can proceed.

The local magnolias and forsythias are coming into full bloom already, which is a couple of weeks earlier than it used to be. The forsythias are blooming over the whole branch these days showing that there is no question that global warming is happening. They used to just bloom with a ring of bloom around the base where the flower buds had been protected by snow cover. Now the whole shrub blooms.

They fishing docks are also out already and that used to wait until the last week before the Mother's Day fishing opener.

Interesting that your forsythia and magnolias are already blooming, @OldDutch (Zone 4 MN) - we are three zones warmer and ours are only about halfway done blooming despite very warm weather for the last couple of weeks.

I just gave my garlic its second dose of fertilizer this spring. Plants are about 8-10 inches tall and growing like weeds with the warm temps we've had recently. It has also been really dry, but we're expecting heavy rain this weekend so I have held off on watering (outside of fertilization). Thus far the plants don't seem stressed so hopefully they are just developing nice deep roots.

The bloom here is just starting but some of the shrubs are in full bloom, while others are just getting started. Our weather this spring has been all over the place, including one day over 80 degrees and full ice out on all our city lakes real early this year, too. BTW we do not have the big magnolias in this country. Mostly Stars with rumors of some saucers but I have not seen one of them yet north of Omaha and central Iowa. Normally they bloom the last week of April. PJM rhodendendrons then too and the hybrid forsythias.

Until the last few years I did not expect the ground to actually thaw out enough to work before the middle of April and then sometimes not completely then either. There is no question around here that spring is coming earlier than ever.

Dutch - that does seem early for ice out and the soil to be workable. I'll have to call my brother in Wisconsin this morning to see if he is working the garden this weekend. His soil is very sandy so he can work it pretty soon after rain.

My garlic are doing great this year, especially the German White. 6 leaves on most plants already and 8-10" tall. Spanish Roja and Chesnok Red are a little smaller than the GW as is usual. I think I mixed up a few cloves of Music in with the GW but they are so similar it doesn't much matter to me. I counted only 6 missing out of the 114 total cloves I planted.

My Dixondale onions are also doing great. Same mix of Candy, Red Candy Apple, and Superstar as usual. Two weeks ago I transplanted ~50 Megaton leeks that I grew from seed. A handful didn't make it but the rest are putting on new leaves already. I have another pot of King Richard leeks that I will use to replace the deceased ones and maybe plant a few more.

I threw some granular urea on all of the allium beds a couple days ago before the rains started.

First sowing of beets and radishes are also sprouting. Need to sow some more after things dry up a bit. It's been raining all night. Maybe tomorrow or Monday.

Cut my first spear of Asparagus yesterday and there were several more just poking up. My Horseradish is also up a couple inches. All 18 of the crowns came up and looks like a few more plants that are coming up from roots that I missed at harvest.

Nice stand in the garlics and the Skyhigh Scarlet tulips between the varieties.

Way on the far end are my mittendorfi daylilies that should be in bloom close to mid May this year.

Now if I can just get the tree rats to quit helping me with my landscaping...

Most of my garlic has finally emerged through the mulch, and doesn't appear to have suffered any significant winter kill. A few may still be trapped under the mulch, but since there is standing water around the raised bed, those will have to wait for drier conditions - which hopefully arrive next week.

Gave my plants their third dose of urea (1/2 oz per 16 sq ft bed) today. They are looking good except for a little bit of yellowing at the tips, presumably due to dry weather. I watered the urea in well today and it is raining, so hopefully it will get where it needs to go! Will probably give them one final dose in mid-May.

The scapes on my German White are coming on strong. In a few more days some of them should have completed the shepherd's hook and will be ready to harvest. Can't wait to throw some on the grill this weekend.

No sign of scapes on the Spanish Roja or Chesnok Red yet. Per usual they are a couple weeks behind the GW. GW bulbs should be ready to harvest in late June. SR and CR is the first half of July.

I just went out and weeded my beds - still looking pretty good outside of a few rotters. Only a couple of scapes at this point, though, despite quite a few yellow leaves. It has been really dry and I haven't been watering as faithfully as I should. I gave them a drink today and we're expecting rain this weekend, so hopefully that will get the scapes popping!

Raining here today and it was needed. Over an inch already today on top of half an inch earlier this week. My garden has been somewhat neglected this year. I reacted to one of my meds pretty strongly earlier and even though the prescription has been changed the recovery is not yet complete.

The garlics do look pretty good and the intervening tulips need to be dug, but that will have to wait for some drying out and some warmer temps. It hasn't been 50 degrees here since 5 am today and down into the upper 30's before dawn tomorrow. Real late start this year and some crazy weather on top of it all.

My garlic needed the rain too. It's funny; in recent years, I was concerned with waterlogged soil... this year, I was worried the garlic would dry out. The new raised bed is paying off, all of the garlic looks great. Glad I purchased the lumber before the price skyrocketed.

An update...

It seems that inadvertently, I planted my garlic in a perfect location last year. I built the raised bed in the lowest part of the garden, with the intent of spreading the soil after harvest to raise the surrounding soil level somewhat. That low spot hardly ever really dries out, so it is not where I would ordinarily think to plant garlic... but from the raised bed, the garlic roots can safely tap into that moisture. This is the healthiest garlic I have ever grown; a couple varieties over waist high, and the rest with dense foliage. Thus far, it has been weathering our long heat spell with so sign of stress.

It's been dry, dry, dry here. And warm like it's summer closer to harvest time. I haven't been watering the bed much either.

The regular garlic is doing pretty well. A bit shorter and thinner necks than I would like. No signs of scapes though I know there's supposed to be some hardneck there. A bit more brown on the tips and lower leaves than usual for this time of the season. But still thick and plush enough that beween the leaves and the mulch there's almost no weeds.

The mother bed is suffering a bit more. Lots of starting greens, but the tips are too dry. But those can just stay in place and not get harvested this year so it's not too bad yet.

We are now going on our second week without a drop of rain after having a wet April and May. It seems that my garlic is liking it though. I never had to water the garlic since I planted the cloves last fall.

I've harvested all of the scapes from the German White and a few from the Chesnok Red. The GW is browning down so I'll probably be digging them within a couple weeks followed by the Chesnok Red and then the Spanish Roja.

I'm looking forward to roasted garlic on toasted baguette slices.

Tomorrow early I dig my tulips. Then I weed the garlics. Most are pretty clean. I should get real nice Sky High Scarlet tulips this year, since I am digging them so late. I divide my garlic varieties with them. The heat has been hard on me this year, but I think that I am adapting to it a little bit. We got a shot at triple digits tomorrow on the thermometer. Not going to be doing much in my yard once the heat starts to build. Maybe some rain here on Friday, but they also forecast a bit of a break on the heat.

I probably should have harvested my scapes last weekend but it was horribly hot here, with lots of thunderstorms, so they'll have to wait a few more days. Plants are browning more rapidly than I would have anticipated - I don't usually harvest until after July 4 but it may happen early this year.

Thunder and rain here now! That is what should happen here one afternoon following a series of hot days. I also see another line of spontaneous rain moving toward us from the west on the radar. It appears to have started boiling up in ne SD up into eastern ND and from there moving east. It looks like quite a bit of central and northern Minnesota stands a chance of getting a drink this evening. Not so much south and south west though.

Oh well at least its a start.

I pulled all my garlic today after looking at the forecast - a very hot (90+) week ahead, and most of them already had 4-5 brown leaves at the bottom! I didn't count as I was digging but it looks like Montana Zemo needs another season to acclimate to my soil - the bulbs that survived look pretty good but I lost at least 25% of them to rot. Music too. Polish and Kyjev fared better.

As I was digging them out I wondered if they might not be planted too deeply, or if the soil in my beds is too compacted. I usually aim for a solid 6" depth and then push the clove into the hole another inch or so with my fingers - perhaps I should skip the pushing in step? The rotting issues seem to start with the underground portion of the stem, so I'm wondering if perhaps having less of the stem underground would help.

Regardless, I made five quarts of garlic scape pesto from the scapes and I have at least 100 really nice heads of garlic (plus quite a few small but useable). Will post a final count when I get around to sorting and tying them up tomorrow!

ETA: I cleaned up my harvest today - sadly, I had quite a few more bulbs that showed signs of rot once I got all the dirt off. I ended up with only 100 bulbs, about 20 of which need to be used immediately rather than cured. Luckily the ones that survived look pretty good, so hopefully with a new prep regimen and shallower planting in the fall, I will have much better results next year with this seed stock. Kyjev was my best performer - I only lost one or two plants of that variety, whereas I lost 50% of most of the others!

I've always wondered about planting depth and read 4" to 6"'s but I've always stuck them in with my fingers with the top an inch deep at best. Been doing it for a dozen years and never had any problems with rot, or size. Right or wrong I don't know.

But what I don't get is many of the university Ag extensions say to store garlic at 32 degrees while all the growers say the mid 50's. So last year after a dozen years of storing them in the mid to high 50's with no problems I listened to the Universities and used 32 degrees. I thought maybe I'd get longer storage, wrong! Lost them all by mid February with none to put into my pickled asparagus this year, the best part, so didn't do them.

I'd appreciate hearing what conditions everyone else stores their garlic at here. Thanks.

I store my garlic at room temperature, which is in the low 70s during the summer and the low 60s during the winter in my house. 50s would be better but I don't have a spot that stays consistently at that temperature. My garlic is typically useable until January/February, although I usually peel and freeze or dry any cloves I haven't used by Christmas. I would never store in the fridge (or at 32), though - they will sprout at that temp!

Good to know you get good results with a shallow planting depth. I think I will try to plant shallower this year and see what happens!

I also plant shallow, using my index finger as the dibble. Then I normally water the bed in real good. The only time I lost a planting to rot was one of my first autumns when I planted in a trench rather than raised. Barring what the squirrels dig out, I normally get a pretty complete stand with virtually no loss all the way through to harvest. To me the raised bed is the important thing. I store my garlic at room temp, too, but the room is slightly cooler than most.

I plant shallow as well with the top about 1" below the surface, then mulch with a thick layer of grass clippings and chopped leaves. I typically get a 99+% stand with little to no rot. The bulbs are stored in my cellar which runs upper 60s in the summer and upper 50s in the winter. I just ate my last fresh bulb on June 1st.

Wow, it looks like I am definitely planting too deep. Will try finger-depth this fall and see how it goes!

I plant cloves about 2" deep. Funny thing though... when I dig up the garlic, a lot of it is 3-4" deep. I think they pull themselves deeper.

Planting in a raised bed now. With heavy, poorly-drained soil, I had too many failures when planted at ground level. Winter kill was sometimes excessive, and if June & July were wet (as has often been the case in recent years) the bulbs were stunted - especially the artichoke types. All garlic varieties, regardless of type, are uniformly healthy this year. Will try to post a photo... this from 2 weeks ago.

On a related note, do any of you plant a cover crop in your garlic beds from july-planting time? I'm wondering if there is any benefit to that as opposed to just mulching now to keep weeds down then adding manure, etc before planting in November.

I usually plant fall bush beans, carrots, or more summer squash in the garlic bed sometime in mid to late July. Right now you could plant something like Buckwheat which is a very fast growing crop (45 days or so). Be sure to cut it down before it goes to seed! Tillage radishes are also good for mining nitrogen and 'deep drilling'.

I plant my garlic so the tip is as deep as my thumb is long which is about 2.25"

Thanks LoneJack! I have some carrot seed, perhaps I'll try a few rows of carrots in addition to a more standard cover crop. I ordered a mix of buckwheat and cowpeas to test out.

One thing seems certain - I am planting WAY too deeply. Finger/thumb depth is going to save me a ton of digging going forward!

You're welcome. Sounds like a good plan. Right now may be a bit early for fall carrots. Last half of July is my sweet spot for sowing and I harvest in November after a few frosts. They are very much sweeter than spring/summer grown carrots.

I should mention that tillage radishes would be planted in mid August or so. I use a variety called Groundhog. They are great for breaking up compacted soil.

The long rooted daikons are a lot of fun. I prefer the edible ones like April Cross or Summer Cross. They also form a real nice canopy to keep the weeds down. Young seed pods are also edible.

Greetings all. Here in the PNW everything is later then the rest of the country. Most of my garlic has been hanging in the garage for a couple of weeks with a fan. one variety was growing in partial shade so I pulled that today.

I store my garlic in used potato bags hanging in a dark corner of the garage, so far with no loss. Between now and November I will try to get a crop of beans or squash from the garlic beds.

My garlic harvest has begun. I harvested both artichoke types (Carpati and Ron's Single Center) and an unidentified hard neck which was growing in a flower bed. It had been there for several years, forming several bulbs which together held numerous large cloves - so I divided & planted them. After observation, and comparing it to varieties I've grown previously, it appears to be Georgian Fire. All bulbs are large & healthy, in spite of the waterlogged soil surrounding the box... the raised bed made all the difference.

@OldDutch (Zone 4 MN), your call earlier in this thread was right on. The volunteer was a porcelain type, and did size up really well - basically full size. And a variety I had planned to re-acquire! :-)

I checked a few bulbs yesterday, and found that the soil was still muddy at root level, and the outer bulb wrappers showed signs of deterioration. So with heavy rain approaching, I harvested all but 2 of the remaining varieties: Dubna Standard, Estonian Red, Special Idaho, and Vic's. All are large, some - especially the Special Idaho - very large.

German White & Krasnodar Red still appeared to need another week or so to reach maturity, so I'm gambling that the raised bed will prevent the soil there from getting waterlogged. We had a lot of rain overnight (over 4"), the rest of the surrounding garden will be flooded & impassible. :-(

Pulled the garlics. Not as fat as I was hoping, but Ok enough. A few heads will be worth it for seed, but most of it is eating size.

So, gonna do a quick summer crop in the bed, then dress the bed a lot.... and now I start looking around for a good garlic seller or two to get some new varieties to work with. Pick up a sampler or two so I can try out some different stuff.

The little mother bed is starting to go kaput, but probably a few weeks yet before I clean that one up and put some fresh mulch over the little ones.

Garlic is normally best planted in the fall. Garlic can develop its roots before the winter and resume its growth in the spring by being planted in the fall. Garlic should generally be planted in Zone 5 between mid-September and early November, though specific timing can vary based on your region's environment and frost dates.