Garlic in the Spring Time

It is always exciting when you look for your garlic in the spring. We look forward to seeing the garlic poke their little leaves through the ground.

Garlic in the Spring Time

This year we have 8 inches of snow on the ground, but it is warming up fast.  My husband decided to defrost the garlic patch and also the garden.  We didn’t want to take a chance of the garlic going moldy and the bulbs rotting in the ground.

Thawing out the garlic patch in the spring time

This is a trick farmers use to help their fields melt quickly so the winter wheat will grow and not mold.  They cover their snow-covered fields with ash or compost.  The dark color spread on the fields attracts more sunlight warming the snow up causing it to melt quickly.  This also allows the wheat to start growing as the temperature of the soil increases.

In order to melt the snow quickly on the garlic patch and the garden he used the same technique the farmers use.  He cleaned the ashes out of the wood stove and lightly spread them over the garden and on the garlic patch.  (Remember you don’t want to do this if you have burned boards with nails in them.)

 

March 22nd is the first day he put the ash on the garlic.  We had 8 inches of snow.  The shovel was put there so we could measure the depth of the snow and watch how much it drops daily.

The snow melted quickly with the ash

It was really interesting to watch how quickly the snow melted from the off the garlic patch.  Our altitude is 5600 ft. Our high temperatures during the day are in the low 40’s.  We have had a tiny bit of rain and another skiff of snow.  Our low temperatures at night have been in the low 20’s.

It is melting down fast.  You can see the scoop on the shovel is showing just a little bit.

On day 3 the ground is starting to show.  You can see how much it has melted on the scoop of the shovel.

This is day 4.  The ash has melted through the snow.  The snow is completely gone and there is water standing where the snow melted.  The shovel fell over because the snow was gone.

Why melt the snow off early in the spring time

By melting the snow off of the garden and the patch of garlic the ground will dry up quickly.  The ground will also start to warm up promoting the growth of the garlic.  This method will also dry up the ground so the garlic will not sit in water as long.  Hopefully it will help the bulbs start to grow and not rot in the ground under the snow.

We are anxiously watching for the garlic to poke its little leaves up through the soil.  I cant wait to see how our harvest goes this year.

Garlic is an interesting plant to grow.  For more information on how to grow garlic check out this e-book Garlic ~ From What to Plant thru How to Use It.

If you have never grown garlic, get your spot ready so you can get started this fall.  We have planted garlic in the spring before.  You don’t get a very good harvest when you plant in the spring.

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Happy gardening!