Lessons Learned From 2007 and Plans for 2008

The most useful lesson we learned for the planting year of 2007 was to remain flexible on your schedule. We learned what would be the perfect cover crop rotation and planting schedule was certainly not the most practical. We ran into a number of stumbling blocks that we feel people can learn from whether they are planting a new commercial garlic bed or a small vegetable garden in their yard.

First, tilling New Hampshire soils is so hard, that adding the winter rye to it made it nearly impossible. We had planted the winter rye in fields one and two in the summer of 2007 with the idea that we would till strips of the rye in the fall to plant the garlic in. The rye would remain in between the planted garlic rows to use as living mulch, providing soil stabilization during the winter, adding organic matter, and providing competition against weeds. The rye was mowed regularly so it would not go to seed and thereby become a weed itself.

The first problem with this idea was that the rye was very tough to mow. A typical push mower that most people use for the lawn proved insufficient. The rye was too think and too long. The mower got clogged and stopped working. The second problem was that it was far too difficult to till into the soil. Anyone who has tried to till up a new garden bed in New Hampshire knows that there is an unusual proportion of rocks to soil in this state! There were so many rocks, and the rye was so long and tough to till in, that it took weeks to till enough rows to plant the garlic. The use of winter rye should not be discounted, as it did provide excellent organic matter and cover through the fall. However, its use should be limited to well established beds that have fewer rocks.

As of May of 2008 the rye did not re-grow in the rows where the garlic was planted, but it did come back in between the rows where we wanted it. However, now that we have the rye between the rows, we are second guessing the feasibility of leaving it there. We have already learned that mowing it before it goes to seed is not easy. Also, with the rye in the rows we lost a lot of space as the garlic could have been planted closer together. This fall the entire field will be plowed under using a tractor. The garlic will be planted in strips and mulch will be laid between the rows. Also, field one will be planted again in the fall of 2008 rather than moving onto field three as originally planned.

The second thing we learned is that an acre of garlic is a lot of garlic! Too much garlic one might say. Only half of field two was planted in 2007, the other half was left as winter rye. This worked out well as the rye that died over the winter remained on the soil to act like a weed mat. This spring, the rye came back and we will try to bale it to see if we can use it for mulch.

Finally, we learned that leaves make good mulch.  One of the rows of garlic was mulched with leaves rather than straw. We don’t have any scientific evidence, but it looks as though the row mulched with leaves has larger garlic. We think this might have to do with the dark color of the leaves absorbing the heat from the sun and warming up the soil.

We took our lessons learned and decided it was time to rethink our original plan. The chart below states what was actually done in 2007 and states what we plan to do for 2008. We don’t intend for this chart to be the last one either. After all, this is a learning process.

Field/Plan	Spring 07	Summer 07	Fall 07
Field 1 (garlic-garlic-rest)	Till in current weeds, added manure and plant green manure mix. Had good coverage thanks to spring rain. Little weeds. Tilled in well.	The manure mixed tilled in well and rye was planted July 30th.   Rye had good coverage. Little weeds. Mowed rye once. But didn’t matter. Rye remained a beast!	Rye was nearly impossible to till in. We tilled and tilled and planted for about three weeks in October until November. One row mulched with leaves. Other with straw.
Field 2 (1/2 garlic- 1/2 garlic-rest)	Till in current weeds and plant green manure mix. Observations same as field one.	The manure mixed tilled in well and rye was planted July 30th.  Observations same as field one.	Same as one except only planted half the plot. Rye remained in other half.
Field 3 (rest-rest-garlic)	Tilled and planted oats. Did not add manure to this plot. Oats very sparse. Didn’t do well.	Tilled oats at end of July. About 25% had gone to seed. Tilled well. Planted buckwheat but the oats came back! The buckwheat coverage was good. On July 6th we pulled milkweed out of all plots but most of it was in plot 3. Back Left corner and center.	Rye/Vetch Tilled in the buckwheat/oats at the end of the August, but never really got the rye/vetch down because so busy tilling and planting garlic.

Field/plan	Spring 08	Summer 08	Fall 08	Spring 09
Field 1	The garlic with the leaves as mulch is coming up faster and larger than those with straw. Very little weeds in all plots. Looks good. Garlic up about 4 inches. Weather was dry for a few weeks then rained about 1.5 inches in 3 days. 5/7/08 Garlic was fertilized with slow release organic, Early May Leave mulch on garlic. Mow rye between rows (try to mow before seed heads appear)	Harvest garlic. Till everything completely and plant rye/vetch mix.	Till in the rye/vetch completely and plant garlic again. Narrower rows.	Will be garlic and leaf or straw mulch.
Field 2	The rye that was left on half the plot is coming back well. The rye from the winter is brown and dead and laying on the field like a mat. Leave the brown, dead rye as it is acting as good mulch. Try to bale the rye. If it works, see if you can get two harvests.	After getting straw, plant buckwheat.  Before it goes to seed till it in and plant oats.	Till half the plot and plant garlic. The other half can stay oats and mow it before goes to seed.	Depends on what happens with the oats.
Field 3	Rye/Vetch was reseeded. Looks like the vetch is coming up 5/7/08	When the rye from plot two is tilled in, also till in plot 3 and plant buckwheat.   Till in when plot two is tilled in and plant rye/vetch.	Rye/vetch	Will still be rye/vetch

This chart includes what actually happened from spring 07 to spring 08 and notes about growth.

This project was funded by SARE monies.