How To Grow Garlic In Colorado

Garlic Planting

October is garlic planting time hither in Denver (zone 5b). Which ways August is the time to outset thinking about ordering.

Garlic is planted in Oct here in Colorado, about six-8 weeks before your fall frost date. It over winters in the garden, it needs the cold to trigger growth in the spring, and is harvested around July.

Usually ordered end of August/Starting time of September. Oftentimes I pre-social club to get the varieties I want before they sell out. (equally they ofttimes do)
Planted first week of Oct.
Harvested commencement week of July. (seems to exist around the 4th of July hither in Colorado)

The past couple of years, I've ordered garlic from Territorial Seed Visitor. https://territorialseed.com

Types of Garlic

There are 2 main types of garlic: Hardneck and Softneck. Hardneck: Allium sativum subsp. ophioscorodon, produces garlic scapes. Softneck: Allium sativum subsp. sativum, does non send upwards scapes just has a longer shelf life, ofttimes 6-9 months. To proceed garlic all year, I take about half of my harvest, whorl the garlic cloves in one of those rubbery garlic peelers and freeze the individual cloves in a freezer bag. This makes it easy to take a couple of cloves out at a time, all winter long for soups, stews, chilis, and pasta sauce.

I like the hardneck garlic types for the scapes that appear in the spring. You lot need to clip these off (I utilize pruners or kitchen pair of scissors) in order for the garlic bulb to form underground. Do Not let these go to blossom! They gustation great as pickles (as you might guess, Micah's favorite), grilled like scallions, or chopped and thrown into stir fry.

This yr, or last October rather, I planted iii varieties:

"Music" – Hardneck – a mid-flavor, porcelain blazon
"Duganski" – Hardneck – a Mid-season, purple stripe type.
"Susanville" – Softneck – a Mid-season, artichoke type.

I did accept a not bad harvest this year with "Music", "Duganski", and "Susanville".

Garlic

I planted them concluding October (x/22/19) into empty beds later everything was harvested and plants cleaned out. Added some compost and planted cloves. I pull apart the garlic bulb cloves, leaving as much of the outside newspaper on as possible, and plant with the indicate upward, and continue my fingers crossed.

Once about half of the lower leaves have yellowed/browned, it's time to harvest. I carefully dig them up, trying hard to not knick the fresh bulbs. I let them dry outside in the shade, or in the garage, if rain is in the forecast.

This autumn, in keeping with one of my garden goals, I'm going to be using the saved seed (technically the garlic cloves) of garlic I planted last year. Then, I'll be planting Music, Duganski, and Suasnville again. I keep looking at the garden catalogues and websites at new varieties though….. (sigh)…. then many choices….!