Garlic planting

Today I planted garlic, thank's to Sarah's reminder on her Maunga Kereru Instagram. The garlic was planted in a garden bed which we had built up over late summer and autumn, with cow manure and the byproduct of herbal tinctures from Phytomed (basically ground up herbs, such as echinacea, eyebright, saint johns wort etc). These biological materials had broken down into the soil in this bed to create the most beautiful soil, with a very slippery feel to it - which I had read about in Peter Proctor's book Grasp the Nettle, about which he said indicated a high humus content in the soil, which is brilliant. I now completely understand what Peter Proctor means by slippery soil, and I'm really excited that we are already seeing these results in the health of our soil - progress!

Biodynamic Planting Calendar for 4th June 2016

Descending Moon I'm really glad I chose to plant the garlic on this day, as being a Root/Earth day descending moon, the energy and the water in the plant is being drawn down into the earth, because garlic is a bulb, the focus for this plant is underground. Because June 4th 2016 is also a Root/Earth day, this is even better.

After planting the garlic, I learnt that it is a good idea to place a couple of wilted comfrey leaves under each bulb. Because I didn't manage to do this, I am going to liquid feed my garlic with comfrey fertiliser teas throughout winter, as comfrey is full of minerals which the garlic really benefit from.