If you read my previous post, you'll know that there is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the economic future of our garlic venture. To recap the general idea: We want to grow certified organic seed garlic marketed specifically to the wet maritime climate west of the Cascade Mountains. We chose this idea because (1) organic seed garlic can command a high price, upwards of $20/lb and (2) there appears to be little competition in the market specific to the geographical area we want to target.
Beyond that idea, I'm not sure what to expect going forward. I've read up on literature on yields, diseases, spacing, and rotation, but most of those data are for areas with very different climates. My goal, therefore, is to be as objective as possible in evaluating our progress as we grow this venture.
Some lessons I've learned thus far: Garlic is a very poor competitor with weeds. This is nothing groundbreaking, but it is something that is sometimes difficult to understand until you've observed it. Even though garlic gets a jumpstart on other plants by emerging before they do, it seems to lose out the growth race to other weeds. In my area, this means horsetail and any perennial grass. Garlic also has a relatively small root system, meaning that it can't compete well for nutrients with weeds, and unlike most grain crops, it doesn't tiller or send up new shoots from rhizomes, meaning that there can be a large quantity of open ground space available for seed germination surrounding each plant. One thing that is also frustrating is that attempting to cultivate weeds in the early spring can be frustrating because the ground is often very wet (not to mention working in the rain). I've been manually hoeing each row this spring, and I've had to do two passes so far. Each approximately 100 ft row takes me about 1.5 hours to weed: two passes with the hoe and then one pass to manually pull intra-row weeds.
Aside from weeding, there are a lot of other labor intensive jobs involved. I need to manually separate all the cloves from the bulb in the fall, sort the cloves by size to make sure only the largest cloves are being planted, and then manually plant each clove. Last year I had to weed twice after planting to keep fall weeds at bay, but I chose not too mulch out of fear of encouraging rot. I think that this year I will mulch with partially composted pig manure/hay and see what happens. At harvesting time, each plant needs to be carefully pulled to ensure the bulbs aren't damaged, kept separate by variety, washed or stripped to remove the dirty exterior, and then hung to dry. Once dry, the plants need to be trimmed of their tops and roots. None of these steps are quick and easy, and they can quickly add up to hours to weeks of work. A bonus is that a lot of this work is spread out over the year, so there is not a ridiculous time crunch like you get in some products (strawberries for instance). The key for me going forward is to come up with the most efficient methods of performing all these jobs, and thinking hard if I want to invest in any equipment that will speed up some of the work. I am thinking about going back to an old strategy of recording all my time related to garlic work beginning with bulb prep in the fall and following through till harvest and processing. It will be interesting to see if $20/lb covers the amount of labor involved (especially one I start adding in labor to organize a mail order business).
A big question I have is related to the spacing of bulbs and the topography of the rows. Last year I made raised bed by making two passes with a middlebuster plow. This created a ridge about every 36 inches. The tractor and the manure spreader can both straddle two of these rows, so I want to pack more plants into the inter-row space. Different studies seem to give different values about the optimum spacing for bulb size and yield. In general, more spacing can give larger bulbs but at a cost of yield. For seed garlic, I want the largest bulbs possible. Intra-row spacing of 6 inches seems to work well, so the question is whether I want to go to 12 inch spacing or 18 inch spacing in the inter-row direction. I've been carefully observing the plants this year to try to get an idea of what would be optimum, and I'm starting to think that it may vary based on variety. I have several varieties that are significantly taller and fuller than others--not too surprisingly this seems to be based on bulb size. For instance, the tallest garlic had 1.5 cloves/ounce while the smallest garlic had 6.5 cloves/ounce. The tallest garlic is seen in the picture below, and there are already a few spots where the leaves of plants from two different rows are almost touching. I can't imagine trying to stuff two rows between these plants.
Beyond that idea, I'm not sure what to expect going forward. I've read up on literature on yields, diseases, spacing, and rotation, but most of those data are for areas with very different climates. My goal, therefore, is to be as objective as possible in evaluating our progress as we grow this venture.
Some lessons I've learned thus far: Garlic is a very poor competitor with weeds. This is nothing groundbreaking, but it is something that is sometimes difficult to understand until you've observed it. Even though garlic gets a jumpstart on other plants by emerging before they do, it seems to lose out the growth race to other weeds. In my area, this means horsetail and any perennial grass. Garlic also has a relatively small root system, meaning that it can't compete well for nutrients with weeds, and unlike most grain crops, it doesn't tiller or send up new shoots from rhizomes, meaning that there can be a large quantity of open ground space available for seed germination surrounding each plant. One thing that is also frustrating is that attempting to cultivate weeds in the early spring can be frustrating because the ground is often very wet (not to mention working in the rain). I've been manually hoeing each row this spring, and I've had to do two passes so far. Each approximately 100 ft row takes me about 1.5 hours to weed: two passes with the hoe and then one pass to manually pull intra-row weeds.
Aside from weeding, there are a lot of other labor intensive jobs involved. I need to manually separate all the cloves from the bulb in the fall, sort the cloves by size to make sure only the largest cloves are being planted, and then manually plant each clove. Last year I had to weed twice after planting to keep fall weeds at bay, but I chose not too mulch out of fear of encouraging rot. I think that this year I will mulch with partially composted pig manure/hay and see what happens. At harvesting time, each plant needs to be carefully pulled to ensure the bulbs aren't damaged, kept separate by variety, washed or stripped to remove the dirty exterior, and then hung to dry. Once dry, the plants need to be trimmed of their tops and roots. None of these steps are quick and easy, and they can quickly add up to hours to weeks of work. A bonus is that a lot of this work is spread out over the year, so there is not a ridiculous time crunch like you get in some products (strawberries for instance). The key for me going forward is to come up with the most efficient methods of performing all these jobs, and thinking hard if I want to invest in any equipment that will speed up some of the work. I am thinking about going back to an old strategy of recording all my time related to garlic work beginning with bulb prep in the fall and following through till harvest and processing. It will be interesting to see if $20/lb covers the amount of labor involved (especially one I start adding in labor to organize a mail order business).
A big question I have is related to the spacing of bulbs and the topography of the rows. Last year I made raised bed by making two passes with a middlebuster plow. This created a ridge about every 36 inches. The tractor and the manure spreader can both straddle two of these rows, so I want to pack more plants into the inter-row space. Different studies seem to give different values about the optimum spacing for bulb size and yield. In general, more spacing can give larger bulbs but at a cost of yield. For seed garlic, I want the largest bulbs possible. Intra-row spacing of 6 inches seems to work well, so the question is whether I want to go to 12 inch spacing or 18 inch spacing in the inter-row direction. I've been carefully observing the plants this year to try to get an idea of what would be optimum, and I'm starting to think that it may vary based on variety. I have several varieties that are significantly taller and fuller than others--not too surprisingly this seems to be based on bulb size. For instance, the tallest garlic had 1.5 cloves/ounce while the smallest garlic had 6.5 cloves/ounce. The tallest garlic is seen in the picture below, and there are already a few spots where the leaves of plants from two different rows are almost touching. I can't imagine trying to stuff two rows between these plants.
I'm also carefully monitoring the color and quality of the leaves. My original plan was to topdress compost over the plants in the spring, but the craziness following the fire coupled with the plants being quite a bit taller in February than I expected meant that composting didn't happen. I checked the pH last year of the garlic and it was well within the acceptable range, and heavily grazed pigs over the garlic area last year. There has been a fair bit of yellowing of the older leave tips, which can be a sign of nitrogen deficiency--but it can also be a sign of other nutrient deficiencies and nutrient deficiencies can be a secondary indicator of poor root growth due to saturated soil or weed competition. Overall, I'm quite happy with the plants, but I want to start investing in some more expensive soil tests and some plant tissue tests in order to get a better idea of what is going on. Ultimately, the proof will be in the bulb size at harvest.
In summary, garlic is exciting for me to grow because it's a fairly complex process involving lots of different steps that give me the opportunity to attempt to maximize efficiency. I also like that it not as delicate and perishable as most fruits and vegetables, which gives me a bit more wiggle room to get a quality product to market. I think it can be a very profitable part of our farm, but only time will tell.
In summary, garlic is exciting for me to grow because it's a fairly complex process involving lots of different steps that give me the opportunity to attempt to maximize efficiency. I also like that it not as delicate and perishable as most fruits and vegetables, which gives me a bit more wiggle room to get a quality product to market. I think it can be a very profitable part of our farm, but only time will tell.
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