I asked BDN readers earlier this week how they like to plant their garlic. They agreed: raised beds are the way to go.
I did some more reading, and they are right for a number of reasons. The beds get credit for being easier on your back and knees, but they’re also a way to work around challenging soil conditions and meet the particular needs of garlic plants.
In fact, they are ideal here, according to one regional university extension service.
Two basic principles explain why: first, a raised bed is basically a container filled with soil. Second, garlic likes loose, well-drained conditions with a lot of organic matter.
A bed that you have poured soil into will probably be looser and drain better than most ground.
These conditions are easier for the plants to grow in, and when you create a bed from scratch, you control what goes into it. Remember that garlic likes a lot of nitrogen (think compost), plus phosphorus, potassium and sulfur.
Gardening in a raised bed can create bigger plants too, or at least it has for Tony Wilson of Camden. To test this idea, one year he planted the same type of garlic at the same time both in raised beds and in the ground.
The ones in the raised bed were significantly larger, and now that’s his only method.
“They are dramatically larger than anything from the grocery store or from many of the farm stands that I have seen,” he said.
He uses 6-inch spacing between each clove, like I did, but just leaves 6 inches between rows and still has success.
The soil in a raised bed will also warm up earlier in the spring and should be easier to weed, according to other growers.
Although the very end of October and early November is the typical time for garlic planting, you can put them in as long as the ground is workable and not fully frozen. So, if you have spare time this weekend, you could try building a raised bed if you don’t already have some.
Wood is a common choice for those; steel stock tanks or other containers are also seen around Maine gardens. Personally, I’m hoping to try my hand at building one with the many stones filling my field.
Andy Davis, a gardener from South Solon, also prefers raised beds and gave another planting tip.
He shovels out 4 inches of soil, lays out all his seed cloves, then returns the soil on top. That way, it’s easy to know the spacing is consistent.
When everything’s planted and it’s time to mulch, Wilson puts a frame with chicken wire on top of the beds to hold down the straw he uses (when I’m ready to move up from netting and rocks, I’ll try this). Davis goes with straw from his chicken coop.
However you do it, remember to plant your garlic in a different bed next year. Rotating them reduces the risk that next year’s crop will be hurt by any diseases or pests in the soil.
