Mulching Garlic

During a break from the freezing weather in late December, Dominique planted close to 9,000 cloves of 8 varieties of garlic in about 3400 row feet with a spacing between cloves of 4" to 5". Next, the planted cloves had to be mulched; but where would we get the straw this late in the year, and what would we pay if we could find it. Luckily, these questions were answered before the next hard freeze.

Instead of paying $8.00 a bale from a local straw scalper, Dominique got it from Greenmarket farmer, Phil Hoeffner in Montgomery, for $4.00 a bale, delivered. The negotiations were over the phone; she didn't know who we were buying it from until we saw his name on the truck delivering it..."hey, I didn't know I was talking to you"...from then on we were working with family.

Here Dominique breaks open a straw bale to mulch the garlic rows; this will help prevent the garlic from heaving-out when the ground freezes, thaws and re-freezes. The mulch will also suppress weed growth in the spring. If the garlic comes up I'll need a bigger truck to get it to market. I'm shopping for one in the price range of what the garlic will bring in, Yankee farmer that I am.