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GARLIC
THE GATEWAY CROP TO GARDENING
 

"It's Garlic Planting Time!" with Silver Spring SPARKLE

 

Hosted by Tony Sarmiento, acclaimed Garlic Guru and CKC Board Member

Wednesday, September 11th @ 2-4PM

Koiner Farm, located at 737 Easley Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910

Please register here.

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Fall is the time to plant garlic that you will harvest next summer. Come and find out how and why garlic can be your gateway to vegetable gardening – and learn the secrets behind how five garlic bulbs grown at the Koiner farm (the only urban farm in Montgomery County) won the blue ribbon at the 2024 Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. We’ll also tour the farm and provide an update on the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming’s expansion to a second farm nearby.

 

Tony Sarmiento, former president of Silver Spring Village, joined the board of the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming in 2021 to support its mission of protecting and managing urban farms that inspire the next generation of sustainable food innovators. He retired in 2017 after a long career in community/social justice work and has lived in upper Northwest DC and Silver Spring since 1958. His garlic, grown in his small backyard in Woodside, has won the blue ribbon at both the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair and the Maryland State Fair. 

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Please register for this event through Silver Spring SPARKLE! Thanks!

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Here’s how YOU can start growing your own garlic too...

 

September to November: 

  • Buy porcelain or rocambole garlic bulbs from a local farmers market (both kinds grow well in this area)

  • Break apart bulbs into separate cloves

  • Plant each clove pointy side up 2 inches deep and 8” apart in all directions in a VERY SUNNY spot

  • Optional: Fertilize your bed with alfalfa or soybean meal (1.5 oz per 4’x8' bed)

  • Highly recommended: Mulch your garlic bed with 4-8 inches of straw, chopped leaves/grass clippings


March to May:​​

  • Cut off the scapes while still tender (and can be snapped off with your fingers)

  • Keep that garlic bed free of weeds!


Late-June to mid-July:

  • Keep weeding until harvest

  • When a few of the leaves are yellow, dig up your bulbs carefully

  • Knock off dirt gently but don’t wash to avoid spreading disease

  • Trim off roots and top growth

  • Dry in breezy space sheltered from rain and direct sun


For more information:

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