Planting garlic with our Cubs

[BigBill]

Garlic is a tough plant we watched it come up through the snow.

[CapeCodCubs]

Garlic is a tough plant we watched it come up through the snow.

They say don't store the cloves in the refrigerator, they will sprout roots. I always enjoy seeing a layer of snow and the garlic growing up through it. We have a perfect view from the picture window in the Cub House!

[BullDAWG]

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.

Here is one thing that might give you some ideas... Could make something better to fit your purpose or add more wheels to make the 4 rows like your doing, also note that you wouldn't have to bend over to plant the cloves, just grab what you need off the tray and pop into the holes...



PS... I'm also looking into growing garlic, how big is your garlic area? I'm thinking 1/2 to 3/4 of an acre. BUT here in Mississippi I'm limited to softnecks garlic's as the summer is too hot for the hardneck and was told they don't grow well here. ATM I have about 200 sq feet in cali white softneck and elephant garlic (yea I know its actually a leek) but I'm just starting my seed stock and would love to chat with ya about growing... I also do mainly Italian and Cajun veggies here and have 4 acres I rotate crops in and have a 1/2 acre test/seed beds to test new things or to grow seed for next year...

[BigBill]

Garlic is a tough plant we watched it come up through the snow.

They say don't store the cloves in the refrigerator, they will sprout roots. I always enjoy seeing a layer of snow and the garlic growing up through it. We have a perfect view from the picture window in the Cub House!

My grandfather would braid the garlic after it’s picked and store it in the chicken coop we’re the feed was kept so it would dry. He planted in the fall and it came up in the spring through the snow.

[Jim Becker]

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.

You could also go part way on the open frame, if that is what is needed. For example, attach the pegs to 2x4s but space them 8 inches (or whatever you need) apart. You also have the option of attaching the pegs to slender cross bars then running a couple wooden spacers/skids front to back half way between the rows of pegs.

I'm sure there are a lot of ways to make your tool more effective and/or easier to use. You already did the hard part, coming up with the one you are using now. Hopefully our suggestions gave you some seed ideas on improving it.

[Clemsonfor]

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

I thought you said you haven't sold any, that you have just been growing garlic for seed and not selling any.

But all that makes sense what your saying how you got the markets for when you are going to sell though.

[Clemsonfor]

I think the lawn roller idea is best. You could do a four foot wide row 100ft long in like 30 seconds.

[DickB]

The mechanics of garlic planting is beyond me, but those companies that sell garlic stock online (Colorado, out in NW...Oregon or Washington?) must have some large fields and must have figured out the how-to of going at it in a large scale. Some questions to them might solve your head from getting overly scratched?

Those metal platforms that roll need $$ to buy and 2 people who will never keep up with even a slow creeping Cub. With garlic going in at about 4" on center, there's no way that it would be a speedy operation. Some sort of mechanical setup seems improbable to me (I know I said airplanes would not fly, but...). Garlic cloves are all different sizes, they have to be planted root side down, must have earth closed in on top of them. Sure sounds like hand work to me and a couple on their knees (how I do it), plopping in cloves, closing holes sounds about as proficient as it gets. But...

And since you're up to this in perhaps a small field, what you're doing seems okay and the roller idea would be possibly an improvement on hole making. So I'm guessing you are pretty close to optimum now and a few tweeks will get you to be as speedy as it'll get. For example, drop cloves. The smooth garden to with Cub to move dirt into holes? Hmmm. I like the old way here, instead.

BTW, we stopped going to the Cape after all those years of renting a cottage, surf fishing there. Bait shops closed up. Seals in the water recognize fishing rods and follow surf fishing folks walking down the beach and will take hooked blues/stripers. Don't know why the grand thinkers in the wildlife dept. don't come up with a seal harvesting strategy to balance things out. They're as thick as seaweed in photos I've seen of today's Cape. Great Whites? Holy Crapola. I don't need that...not a toe in the water, thank you very much! And they leap out of the water too...maybe right on to a Cub...I dunno know. But...do you wash your seaweed before putting on the garlic?

[outdoors4evr]

Fascinating discussion!! I’m enjoying this thread! Wishing you the best with your new venture.

A plug aerator may provide a good start. The ones that are hollow tubes leave the dirt plugs behind.
Not sure what diameter hole you would need. Covering the new clove sounds like a pain unless the ground is loose soil.

[Eugene]

Like wise been following this topic with interest. Have about 80 square feet of garden space dedicated to garlic.

Small quantities of garlic bulbs are expensive when purchased from suppliers that require a shipping fee. The garlic bulbs purchased from the grocery stores and local farmers markets seem to work well as seed.

[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.

Here is one thing that might give you some ideas... Could make something better to fit your purpose or add more wheels to make the 4 rows like your doing, also note that you wouldn't have to bend over to plant the cloves, just grab what you need off the tray and pop into the holes...



PS... I'm also looking into growing garlic, how big is your garlic area? I'm thinking 1/2 to 3/4 of an acre. BUT here in Mississippi I'm limited to softnecks garlic's as the summer is too hot for the hardneck and was told they don't grow well here. ATM I have about 200 sq feet in cali white softneck and elephant garlic (yea I know its actually a leek) but I'm just starting my seed stock and would love to chat with ya about growing... I also do mainly Italian and Cajun veggies here and have 4 acres I rotate crops in and have a 1/2 acre test/seed beds to test new things or to grow seed for next year...

That is similar to something we had in mind for planting. We had a mechanical planter but sold it, kind of close. Having a way for two people to go down the row planting would be great. The ground speed of the Cub is too fast. We did purchase a despeeder for one of the Cubs to slow it down. I like the concept and saved the picture for something to think about.

Garlic is huge right now. Go for it, and yes the soft neck varieties are the ones for southern climates. I will try and find out some information for you on what some of my garlic friends down south are planting. Like I said garlic is huge and there is a lot of garlic coming in from China and people don't want to buy it, they want American garlic and with us the want local garlic.
Good luck

[CapeCodCubs]

I thought you said you haven't sold any, that you have just been growing garlic for seed and not selling any.

But all that makes sense what your saying how you got the markets for when you are going to sell though.

I kind of wrote something confusing, yes we have been growing mostly to increase the seed stock we have, we got a contact through a neighbor of a farmer that wanted someone to grow local garlic. Ultimately it was the small grocery store chain (3 stores) that was looking for local garlic. People would ask at their stores if the garlic was local and when they said no, the customer would put it back and not buy it.

Turns out over the course of the last few days more places are interested in wanting to stock it. Local general stores and a smaller store that sells local meats and prepared meals.

[Stanton]

Thanks for sharing your venture with us. Very interesting to see what people do with their Cubs--nice one, by the way.

I'd think that in a square garden, such as yours, the setup you have would work the best. Something small-scale, powered by the Touch Control to raise/lower. If your garlic garden area was narrow and long, then looking into a roller-type setup pull behind your Cub may be more beneficial. A couple long swipes with a roller and you could have all you holes prep'd, only to set and cover each bulb.

Let us know how it goes.

[Stanton]

...Turns out over the course of the last few days more places are interested in wanting to stock it. Local general stores and a smaller store that sells local meats and prepared meals.

Word-of-mouth can be the best advertisement. You may have more suitors than you can dance with.

[T-Mo]

It would be cool to have a video of the various steps of your operation. This is a great thread, and gives me some insight on garlic planting that I never knew.