W&J Professor shares secrets to growing the perfect garlic
Courtesy of Dr. Candy DeBerry
This is what garlic will look like if it is harvested too late.
Courtesy of Dr. Candy DeBerry
A large garlic bulb Dr. Candy DeBerry harvested in July 2021.
Courtesy of Dr. Candy DeBerry
Freshly harvested garlic in Dr. Candy DeBerry’s garden.
Courtesy of Dr. Candy DeBerry
These are garlic cloves that are ready to be planted. Depending on the weather, mid to late October is typically the time to begin planting garlic.
Dr. Candy DeBerry
If you are hoping to pull fresh garlic from the ground next summer, it is time to get planting.
That is according to Dr. Candy DeBerry, the program director of biochemistry at Washington & Jefferson College. She said that in western Pennsylvania, the best time to plant is typically in mid to late October when temperatures begin dropping.
“If it’s going to be warmer, I might hold off a bit,” Deberry said.
DeBerry maintains a microfarm on her property in North Franklin Township. She also grows tomatoes and keeps chickens.
She developed a passion for farming when she was growing up in Detour, Md., a small community she described as having 17 houses and a single stop sign.
“It now has two stop signs, but we lost the post office,” DeBerry said.
Her parents used the harvest from their large garden to can their own tomatoes and beans, and make jam with grapes right off the vine.
“There is a great deal of food that went from our garden, to our basement, to our kitchen and into our stomachs,” DeBerry said.
She has carried an appreciation for gardening and growing food throughout her life, and hopes to help educate people looking to start gardening.
Earlier this month, the Peters Township Public Library hosted DeBerry as she gave a virtual lesson on growing garlic. A recording of the event is available on the library’s YouTube page.
When it comes to garlic, the timing of when you plant is important, but so is the quality of the soil.
DeBerry said the garlic should grow in well draining, highly organic and fertile soil.
“I added compost from the compost pile. I added a mixture of grass clippings and fallen leaves with the mulching mower to get that organic matter and nitrogen levels a little higher. I gave it a good sprinkling of kelp or seaweed meal,” DeBerry said.
When it comes time to put the garlic in the ground, DeBerry cautions that planting too early could mean your crop doesn’t make it through the winter.
“What you don’t want is to plant it so early that there is a lot of top growth on leaves above the mulch. If it’s only up an inch or two above the mulch, it’s typically not a big problem. If there is a lot of leafy growth, it can be destroyed by freezing,” DeBerry said.
After planting, it’s time to … wait. The garlic won’t need your care and attention until around mid-March.
“It is doing its job growing roots and getting through the winter,” DeBerry said.
Like with planting, DeBerry notes that garlic is sensitive to timing, and that determining when to dig it up is the most difficult part.
“It’s always a nail biter for me. Too early, not as large and the skin hasn’t completely grown … If you let it go too long, too many of the leaves die off and you don’t have enough layers of skin around the bulb,” DeBerry said.
She added that advice on the matter will vary from grower to grower. Some say there should be four pairs of green leaves left, others say three.
“Sometimes, it is really trial and error. There are hundreds of varieties,” DeBerry said.
The first week of July is when the garlic should be good to harvest.
“If you want really great stuff, you’re watching it and letting the garlic tell you when it’s ready,” DeBerry said.
It is not a difficult process, but doing it right requires minding all the small details.
“It’s easy to get a garlic crop. It is hard to get a good garlic crop,” DeBerry said. “You will realize garlic is one of the easiest vegetables, but if you want really great garlic, like all things, it takes effort to get good results.