The Garlic in January

I last lifted off the remay hoop and checked on my garlic three weeks ago. We had just come out of our record cold spell and snowfall and some of  the garlic was still sprouting.

I am pleased to report that three weeks later all of the garlic is up and growing well. The "Chesnook Red" garlic came up first this year. This is my third year growing this variety so I now understand its unique growing habit. Per usual, the young plants are growing horizontally more than they are vertically. This will continue until April or May when they will suddenly straighten and grow straight upwards. But all 15 young plants look good.

The rest of the row is planted with 12 "Russian Red" garlic cloves. These plants were much later to push above the soil line this year than the "Chesnook Red" but they are catching up in size quickly. The final two cloves are just now pushing a green shoot through the soil but the rest of the young plants are a good 2" tall. This is my second year growing this variety that I brought back from Maine in the Fall of 2012.