How the magic happens...

Planting

Garlic is planted in the fall, mid-October. The goal is to plant early enough that roots form but not too early that the shoot emerges. It's a guessing game! First, rows are hilled up 40 in. apart so mechanical equipment can be used to plant, cultivate, and harvest. Hills are necessary so the garlic is never in saturated soil for an extended period of time. Too wet, too long, and the garlic will rot. Next, bulbs are broken apart into individual cloves and planted 2 to 3 inches deep, base down, growing point up, 6 in. spacing. Finally, after planting, rows are covered with 4 to 6 inches of mulch. Mulch is necessary to reduce the temperature extremes of the soil. Often, particularly in the following spring, soil temperatures can oscillate by as much as 60 degrees from one day to the next. These extremes would damage the young plants if not protected by the mulch. 

Growth

In early April the mulch is removed so the soil warms up faster resulting in larger bulbs. Usually by mid-April the garlic shoots start emerging, about the time tulips start emerging. Throughout the spring and summer good weed removal is needed as garlic does not like competition. Dakota Garlic has extremely rich soil and gets plenty of rain so neither fertilizer nor water is applied.

Harvesting

Garlic is harvested around mid to late July, when the plant appears about 1/2 dead.  Different growers harvest in different ways. The traditional way is to tie the garlic in bunches and hang them up in a shed for curing. Here in SW Minnesota there is too much humidity for that to work and often the bulbs become moldy. First all root hairs and excess dirt are removed from the bulbs. Next stems are removed, leaving 1 to 2 inches. The garlic is then stored in containers with perforated bottoms. Air is forced through the containers with fans in humidity and temperature controlled rooms. Humidity is set at 50% and temperature is set at 70 deg. 2 to 3 weeks of curing and the bulbs are ready to sell and ship!