Planting elephant garlic with seeds bought on Etsy.
- You need a sandy Soil for Garlic.
- Plant 6 to 8 inches not 12 inches. This will increase your harvest.
October 15 is always my target date to get my cloves in the ground. You let the roots grow through out the winter and then come spring they go crazy with growth. Then I harvest the bulbs at the end of June and the beginning of July. When the scapes come up cut them off to promote bulb size. The winter will not kill them in fact it is suppose to help with the flavor.
In northern Alberta, Canada, zone 3 and we usually have 3-4 weeks each winter where it is consistently between -30 to -40 degrees (Celsius or Fahrenheit are almost the same at these temperatures). I always plant my garlic in the fall, cover it with about 3-4 inches of leaves for mulch, and I end up with a pretty fantastic harvest in late July/early August. I can almost guarantee that the cold will not hurt your garlic, just mulch the crap out of it.
After you harvest the garlic, in July, till, and plant buckwheat, .then till the buckwheat into the ground in Sept. till again and plant your garlic for next year. plant in a new spot after two or three tears.
video credit to: Stary Family Farm