We visited Gusto Garlic in Maple Ridge last week. A small hobby farm, run by a lovely couple who run a local garlic growing business. I found their information online and they were very open and welcoming in giving us a tour of their garlic garden. We learned a lot from them in our two hour visit.
I went home and spent 4 hours attending to our small garlic grove... weeding it, adding blood meal (for nitrogen) and adding soil. Our garlic started to turn yellow on the leaf tips a couple weeks ago [it's way tooooo early in the season to start turning yellow]. We figure this is due to a lack of nitrogen in the soil as garlic is a hungry predator of nitrogen [and it does not like to compete with the weeds to get it]. Blood meal is an organic alternative to supply nitrogen. Here's hoping this fixes the problem. Next year, we will also have to pay better attention to forming raised beds for the garlic (8-10 inches high) to help with drainage so the bulbs can grow better. Last year we didn't have any problems growing our garlic...we grew it in a garden box with well-prepared, new bedding soil. This year, its in an area that use to be grass, but not raised. We did get one thing right... that you do not plant garlic in the same place as the year before.. in fact you should wait four years between planting it back in a place you have already planted it in. Why? Garlic is prone to molds/fungis that can destroy your crops if you don't take care in rotating your crops.
I can't wait until the garlic scapes appear and are ready for harvest. The Gusto Garlic couple, Al & Donna, gave us a great recipe for scape pesto! I suggest checking out their site http://www.gustogarlic.com/ there is a lot of good information about growing garlic, recipes and more.
In the fall, we are hoping to plant enough garlic bulbs to begin our own local garlic growing business... so if you are looking to buy local Fraser Valley garlic, check in with us next summer (harvest time) and see what varieties we have available.
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