Meet Marianne Binetti at the Centralia Garlic Festival on Friday, Aug. 23 at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds. Visit WaStateGarlicFest.com for more information.
The third week of August is a good time to check landscape shrubs for dry soil and perennial weeds. Rhododendrons and azaleas may need a good soak this week if when you poke a shovel into the soil near the root ball you see the soil is light in color and dry six inches below ground. Water Warning: Shrubs like rhododendrons with shallow root balls can drown with too much water so water slowly with a sprinkler or slow dripping hose to avoid waterlogged soils. Confession time: I have personally drowned full grown hydrangeas and rhododendrons by leaving a hose running near the roots then forgetting to turn it off after a soak of 10 or 15 minutes. The death was slow and ugly.
If you have allowed the lawn to go dormant or golden over the summer, you can still dig out perennial weeds that might be more visible in a brown lawn. Don’t worry, your lawn will green up again in the fall when the rain returns.
Garlic is the star of the Central Washington garlic festival every August in Centralia at the and this herb has a lot more going for it than warding off vampires. Side note here: The garlic festival has become a celebration of all things not just garlic but gothic and spooky as well – especially if there is a vampire connection. You’ll find fashion, false teeth and artwork that is inspired by the cult of the vampire at this unique celebration.
Garlic has a reputation as one of the healthiest herbs you can eat as well as one of the most common ingredients in Italian and Greek recipes for long life. Here are some of the most asked questions about growing garlic:
Q. When is the best time to plant garlic in Western Washington?
A. The fall or months of September and October are ideal times to plant garlic cloves. Just break apart a garlic bulb into individual cloves and plant the segments three inches deep with the pointy side up. In Western Washington garlic benefits from sitting over the winter in the ground so fall planting produces the best crop.
Q. How do you know when garlic is ready to harvest?
A. In late summer when the tops of the garlic foliage turns yellow or when the flowers on a blooming garlic forms seeds, then it is time to dig up the garlic bulbs. To store them for use all winter dry the bulbs indoors or out of the sun and rain immediately after harvesting. Clean each garlic bulb by brushing off the soil and letting them dry in a well-ventilated spot. Once dry, you can braid the leaves and hang the garlic bulb clusters in a dry area or store in a paper bag.
Q. How much water do I need to give to my garlic once planted?
A. Not much. The advantage of growing garlic in Western Washington is that you can plant and then harvest garlic relying on rain fall alone. Garlic is a member of the allium family and naturally resistant to mice, moles, slugs, aphid and other pests.
Q. Can I grow garlic from seed?
A. Yes, it is possible but not practical as it is so much easier to grow garlic from cloves. There are now many different types of Greek and Italian garlic varieties available including the huge elephant garlic with a mild flavor. For the largest garlic bulbs plant the largest cloves from the bulb you pull apart. An old cook’s advice is to cook the small cloves, plant the large cloves. Poor drainage and too much water is about the only way you can fail when it comes to growing garlic.
Marianne Binetti has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and several other books. For answers to gardening questions, visit plantersplace.com and click “As The Expert”. Copyright for this column owned by Marianne Binetti. For more gardening information, she can be reached at her website, www.binettigarden.com.
