[sharonl]

Hi all,

I've got my 3 varieties of garlic bulbs and I'm ready to go for planting but I have a question about ground prep for overwintering garlic and shallots. Our soil is by a river bed and has very few nutrients as its a new allotment, since we only got it last april we've been growing plenty but didn't put in any manure or compost. So to prepare for the next season we're gonna start manuring over the next two months but I'm not sure what to do with the garlic bed. I know you shouldn't really plant them in freshly manured site but would it be ok to load the bed with some compost and fish blood and bone this weekend and plant them next weekend in that or would we be better off whacking in a load of manure and compost and wait a few weeks maybe until the middle of october to plant them or would this be getting too late. We really have very few nutrients in the soil and want to make sure we have the ground in all the beds well prepared for next years growing season. We also really want garlic as early as possible next year as I use far too much of the stuff and am really tired of buying half rotten garlic bulbs in the shops. I've thrown out 4 bulbs over the last 2 weeks because they've been so rotten, time to grow my own.

thanks
sharon

[Belfast]

Hope this helps
How to Grow Garlic in Your Home Garden Successfully
http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/about240.html