Sunday, 26 April 2015
The trouble with garlic
is that it seems to require a lot of food and water.
I had hoped that I would have better luck with my garlic this year, after giving the beds I am growing it in a healthy layer of compost.
It soon became apparent once the growing season truly began however that it wasn't nearly enough. The leaves quickly began to yellow, in particular the leaves of the organic standard garlic,which was very disappointing.
I'd had one failure already this season with this garlic. The cloves I bought from a local hardware store did look suspiciously dry and shriveled when I planted them, and sure enough not one sprouted. I'd given up on having a garlic crop for this year, but then I saw garlic bulbs that had sprouted in the local organic food shop, and they were giving them away. I couldn't believe my luck. They were such healthy looking specimens, and it was still early enough for them to get cold enough for the bulbs to split into cloves.
They were spouting well until the dry spell recently. I think I am severely underestimating just how much water they need. I've planted them in the bed that is directly over the roots of the ash tree, and I suspect that is the problem.
The elephant garlic in the bed further along the plot has yellowed slightly, but not as much as the other garlic, and the onions in that bed are lush and green.
The broad beans in the same bed under the ash tree are suffering with yellow leaves as well. I love the ash tree, as it provides protection for me and my shed, and I am unable to remove it even if I wanted to, as it isn't on my land. I shall have to work round the problem and plant things in that bed that don't suffer so much in dry weather.
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