Planting garlic with our Cubs

[CapeCodCubs]

Sarah and I having been planting garlic since we drove up to Amsterdam, NY to buy her a 1965 lo boy just like the one Buzzard Wing uses to mow at Fort Adams. The farmer selling it said if you want to make money farming, grow garlic and if anyone doesn't believe you then they can &%#@ in their hat and put it on their head. Well, we bought her Cub and 6 pounds of garlic and have been increasing the amount of garlic from those 6 pounds every year. We are now up to 10 varieties and 7000 cloves in the ground.

The prep work was with the Cubs, then punching holes and planting by hand. This was taking too much time. So my nephew and I came up with a way to use a Cub with a fast hitch and platform carrier to get it done a little faster.

Here is the underside of the platform carrier, where we installed wooden dowels.


This worked really well, we would press 12 holes and move forward and press 12 holes.





Here is Sarah after punching 4 rows, this was yesterday. We have been trying to beat the ground freezing and have been ahead of Old Man Winter.



We have 40 rows punched and planted...fasthitch implements are lined up against the fence in the background



Plenty of varieties and looking forward to summer when we can harvest. 3 grocery stores have committed to buying from us.

[Steve Butram]

Nice to see cubs still working. How do you sell the finished product

[ajhbike]

Pretty clever gizmo. Patent it!

[DickB]

That looks interesting for such a large garlic planting. I'd think there's some head scratching on aligning each set of holes or have you figured that out?

We plant so little that instead of the Cub we rototill and then using a framing hammer we hit the soil and make a hole with those straight prong "claws" of the framing hammer, drop in a clove, close it up and move on to the next. We probably do no more than 100 cloves this way...and then we strew straw over the field, and next we run low level chicken were around the garlic patch to keep the chickens out--they LOVE to kick up the straw sending it everywhere and not where it will protect the garlic over the winter. But I guess you've done all this and have moved up, scaled up to Cub use.

Very nice use of the rear carrier. I like that lots and would copy it if we were to ever scale up ourselves. Do you find acceptance at local markets or do you have word of mouth customers stop by?

[CapeCodCubs]

Nice to see cubs still working. How do you sell the finished product

Cubs are the perfect choice for this type of work. We grow fingerling potatoes after the garlic comes out and then dig potatoes and restart the garlic growing after the potatoes are harvested. So switching equipment quickly and often is important, the Cub with it's fast hitch set up is perfect.

Next year will be the first real year of selling, it took a while to build up seed stock by not selling and replanting almost all of what we grew. We do have a local high end grocery store that wants local garlic to sell. They brand their produce section as local and organic and have put some pressure on us.

How to sell is another unknown for us. We know what garlic sells for by the pound, but small packages of 2-4 garlic bulbs with our label and town of origin might be the ticket. Then at these grocery stores it might be good to once and a while to set up a table with samples of garlic infused olive oil to taste with bread. It will take a winter of thinking and planning, designing a farm logo, and looking for packaging that is attractive and affordable.

[CapeCodCubs]

Pretty clever gizmo. Patent it!

Invention is the mother of necessity, really had no choice to figure another quicker way of planting. Sarah and a 14 year old neighbor where punching holes with oak stakes and it would be lucky if they could get 200 punched and planted in a day. This changed that, and we are looking at some other ideas such as a lawn roller with pegs or modified an aerator. Or maybe just sticking with this. Either way it is an improvement over what we had been doing.

[CapeCodCubs]

That looks interesting for such a large garlic planting. I'd think there's some head scratching on aligning each set of holes or have you figured that out?

We sight the next set of holes by eye. Sarah can't see where the pegs are so we use hand signals. Marking the front tires might be a good way to figure out how far to move forward. Slow but we can punch and plant about 1600 a day with 2 people.

Btw, we use framing hammers, too if the hole didn't set right. We don't use straw but would if we didn't have a local endless supply of seaweed. You can see a pile in 2nd picture. It really is one of the best mulches because when it breaks down it amends the soil with trace minerals and other valuable stuff for healthy soil.

[DickB]

What you do looks more than "Good Enough" to me. A roller with pegs...sure but you'd have to experiment with it. That seaweed is Primo #1 Best Ever mulch..if you don't get a Great White mixed up in it.... Do you rinse them with fresh water before use?

Garlic growers! YES. Such an easy crop. In the ground when the weather tells you it's "last chance" time and out after skates are cut and leaves turn brown. We don't have much of a weed problem with them. How do you discipline self and others to not mix up the varieties? We're always lost as to variety after the first season <sigh>.

[CapeCodCubs]

[quote="DickB"]What you do looks more than "Good Enough" to me. A roller with pegs...sure but you'd have to experiment with it. That seaweed is Primo #1 Best Ever mulch..if you don't get a Great White mixed up in it.... Do you rinse them with fresh water before use?
/quote]

Yes, the platform press might be all we need, hard to get help though and anything to cut down on slow field time is key. There will be some experimenting before we go with a roller with pegs.

Collecting seaweed is as close as I want to get to Great Whites. When the seals moved in the area 30 years ago they followed and things are getting worse every year.

Drying and keeping the varieties separate is going to be a huge challenge. We are putting up an addition on the tractor barn which will have drying space. Always funny going out to the shop with all this garlic hanging to dry and getting hungry.

[ricky racer]

Interesting! How do you market your garlic?

[CapeCodCubs]

Interesting! How do you market your garlic?

We lucked out, people knew we were growing but mostly to expand the seed stock. Then a neighbor of mine told me about a farmer that wanted him to grow garlic for him. Well I asked if we could and my friend set us up to meet with the produce manager at Lees Market in Westport, MA. I suppose so far our marketing has been word of mouth, going to garlic festivals and ag fairs and talking to people. We also have some general stores interested that came about just by asking them if they would market our garlic and fingerling potatoes. This has been a long road to getting the volume up and increasing the number of varieties.

Chris and Sarah

[Jim Becker]

That looks interesting for such a large garlic planting. I'd think there's some head scratching on aligning each set of holes or have you figured that out?

We sight the next set of holes by eye. Sarah can't see where the pegs are so we use hand signals. Marking the front tires might be a good way to figure out how far to move forward. Slow but we can punch and plant about 1600 a day with 2 people.

You might consider changing the solid wooden platform on the carrier out for an open frame. That would improve visibility from the tractor seat of where the pegs are aimed.

You may have already considered this. Speed/ease of swapping out for other purposes is probably a factor too.

[CapeCodCubs]

You might consider changing the solid wooden platform on the carrier out for an open frame. That would improve visibility from the tractor seat of where the pegs are aimed.

Good idea, thanks. The flatness of the platform provides some control over not dropping the dowels too deep, but I could see how 3 bars with the dowels would work the same way and get needed visibility. The platform just gets bolted to the steel carrier frame. An open frame could use the same holes.

[Slim140]

That looks interesting for such a large garlic planting. I'd think there's some head scratching on aligning each set of holes or have you figured that out?

We sight the next set of holes by eye. Sarah can't see where the pegs are so we use hand signals. Marking the front tires might be a good way to figure out how far to move forward. Slow but we can punch and plant about 1600 a day with 2 people.

You might consider changing the solid wooden platform on the carrier out for an open frame. That would improve visibility from the tractor seat of where the pegs are aimed.

You may have already considered this. Speed/ease of swapping out for other purposes is probably a factor too.

If you do this you may be able to add a couple more rows of pegs, one row on front, one row on back, less up and down and more productive.

[CapeCodCubs]

Shane wrote: If you do this you may be able to add a couple more rows of pegs, one row on front, one row on back, less up and down and more productive.

Yes, that is a great idea. My nephew will be looking forward making some changes. Maybe I can get him to learn how to weld.

thanks all for the great ideas and comments