Been growing garlic in the same spot , doing the same thing for years. Unfortunately, this year was different. I noticed a few plants dying off sooner ( and quicker) than usual. Usually my harvest date is July 4th ( its become tradition). Anyway, I chalked it off as just a few plants ahead of schedule, maybe a variety thing ( as I planted 4 different varieties). Anyway, the other day I lightly pulled on one of the plants, and up it came ( very easily) with no bulb and smelling like rotting garlic. I pulled another and another, all with similar results. I have about 60 plants in that bed. I picked half of them and at least %50 of those I picked were similar. The other %50 were ok, but still would have benefitted from ab additional week or two in the ground. Its been a relatively dry year. The sprinklers are on a timer as they've always been. I do occasionally water with the hose. Im guessing its either an overwatering issue or a poor draining soil issue. I shut the sprinkler off in that region and completely stopped watering. The other half appear healthy and show resistance with a normal tug on the plant. The second bed,a raised bed, which appears to look normal, is literally 2 feet away from the first affected bed. Both hit by the same sprinkler.
I do amend the soil each year. Im hoping that second bed gives me good results when we harvest in a week.
I will probably add some sand and other stuff to the first bed to aid in drainage. Or possibly just build a raised bed on the same site.
Oh well, garlic was my most predictable crop until this year. What a crappy way to start off the season.
Whats strange is for the past 2 - 3 weeks, ive been harvesting scapes, and the plants seemed healthy, and none just pulled out was I was manipulating the plant to get the scapes off.