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Kings Say "Time To Plant Your Garlic"

Monday 27 June 2016, 2:40PM

By Beckie Wright

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At Kings Plant Barn they reckon that our “cool, dark, and damp winter is here, so it’s a great time to warm yourself up by getting garlic bulbs in”  to the cool, dark and damp soil, and for a great crop of garlic it is important to start with quality seed, which can, of course, be obtained from Kings.

Garlic is one of the easiest and least fussy vegie crops we can grow. It takes up hardly any room (width wise above the soil) and once planted it requires little care other than moist soil. Traditionally garlic is planted on the shortest day and harvested on the longest day and is usually planted in the autumn and winter. Garlic thrives if given basics - food, water and plenty of sun and will grow in both garden beds and containers. Obviously, the better the soil, the better the plants will grow and it is well known that mushroom compost makes for the best  starter bed and then allow the compost and worms to harmonise and adjust before planting.

Garlic bulbs are readily available at Kings Plant Barn in winter and this is a better plan than using some old garlic bulbs left over at home. Garlic is happy growing in pots and containers and in a pot the size of a kitchen bucket you can plant about six cloves of garlic. Kings recommend choosing a pot or container with good drainage and position in a spot that receives full sun. They also say break up each bulb into cloves; it is these cloves which you plant NOT the whole bulb and bury each clove finger depth at least 5cm below the mix (twice as deep as the length of the clove). Also feed plants with some Kings plant food and they will feed you! Plants use nutrients from the soil as they grow, so replenishing the nutrients ensures your plants grow to their full potential.

Garlic should be fed every four weeks during key growth periods with dolomite, blood and bone and sheep manure dust designed to encourage healthy vegetable growth and microbial and earthworm activity in the soil. Kings Organic Vegetable Fertiliser is an excellent organic plant food rich in nutrients to boost the vegetable garden naturally and contains manures and blood and bone for sustained and long term feeding of all vegetable and berry crops and also promotes crop flavour and yield, improves soil structure and encourages earthworm and microbe activity in the soil.

Garlic needs to be kept well-watered to produce large bulbs, particularly as the bulbs are starting to form in November and December and well-watered, well-nourished plants will have a better chance of keeping insect pests and diseases at bay. For more information on Kings, please go to http://www.kings.co.nz .