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Should have mulched differently

14 years ago

I've spent the morning with a pitch fork pulling the winter leaf mulch off of my garlic and shallots to uncover the twisted yellow shoots underneath. Next year I'm going to mulch after the shoots come up (mulch around the shoots) rather than mulch right after planting. I won't bother spending the time to shred the leaves either.

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Comments (5)

wcthomas
14 years ago
They will recover as they sit in the sun for a while.

I apply a 4" hay mulch at planting in November and the garlic grows right through it. Leaves have a tendency to mat unless chopped very fine. Chopped leaves mixed with grass clippings will be more porous.

TomNJ
cyrus_gardner
14 years ago
Mulching garlics do not make sense to me.
In zone 5, for example, when frost line is 12" deep, mulch is not going to do anything as far as protecting from cold.
Garlics are like tulips, daffodiles, .. they are immune from freezing.
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curt_grow
14 years ago
University Of Minnesota extension agency recommends Winter Mulch. Not to keep the garlic from freezing, but to keep it from freeze thaw cycles. This can happen daily in the right conditions in this area.

Curt :-)
jonas302
14 years ago
as curt said its not to kepp them from freezing but to keep them frozen otherwise they will start to grow then get zapped with below zero weather happened to me last year same with tulips ect
catherine_nm
14 years ago
For some of us the mulch is to conserve winter moisture, not because of freezing or thawing. When I put in the garlic, I water, then put on about 4 inches of pine straw. This winter has been unusually wet, with snow cover on the garlic beds from November through part of February. The snow cover has been gone for almost a month now, and the mulched beds are still nicely damp and the garlic coming up through the mulch.

Catherine

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