Tilling time

Almost an acre of ground got tilled today, and it's all going to the 2013 garlic crop! That's enough ground for about 200 pounds of garlic seed, give or take, plus special sections for bulbils and green garlic.

But it's not time for planting. Not yet. The mornings and evenings feel like sweater weather. Daytime temperatures, however, remain in the 70s and 80s.  If we were to plant now, the garlic would get too much top growth that would eventually die off in winter.


Instead we'll plant a quick cover crop of buckwheat.  Buckwheat helps suppress weeds, plus it releases nitrogen into the soil as it decomposes. That makes it a great "green manure." The buckwheat will grow about three weeks. Then it'll get plowed under and mixed with a nice layer of composted horse manure. We'll probably add some Greensand, too, to help break up our clay soil.

A field of buckwheat at the farm.

Then we'll be ready to plant come late October.  It takes work to grow big, healthy garlic on a commercial scale, but the end results are worth it. There's nothing more satisfying for a garlic grower than harvesting beautiful bulbs that were the fruits of a nine-month labor of love.