Well.
For the first time in the 9 years I've grown garlic, cloves rotted in the ground. Entire sections of varieties, save a few that germinated. The sections lost are:
- Central Siberian (3 cloves germinated out of 5 rows planted)
- Red Rezan (none out of 2 rows). I never even got to taste this one!
- Northern Quebec (2 cloves out of 3 rows)
- Brown Tempest (none out of 4 rows)
- Most of Baba Franchuk’s (6 cloves out of 4 rows)
That comprises well over half the garlic planted last Fall.
The only saving grace is that I had planted Central Siberian and Northern Quebec bulbils and rounds at the front of the garlic bed, so I will have those varieties to replant in the Fall. Red Rezan and Brown Tempest are toast; there won't be cloves of these to replant in October.
At the back of the patch, where Central Siberian and Northern Quebec were planted, R. put in a few potatoes this afternoon to fill the space. I will plant Bon Bon dwarf calendula and nasturtiums in the other, narrower spaces where garlic failed to come up.
The patch, as always, was mulched, and our winter was not overly cold. R. said that last October-December were milder than usual (I was in Nova Scotia for much of that time). I'm not sure what it was that caused the cloves to rot. Hopefully, it was a fluke and won't happen again.
