Tastes All Next Summer GreengOINg Plant Garlic Now for Great by Michael Lauher NAPA VALLey BUSINeSS SPoTLIGHT Education Director by the Napa County Green Business Program Connolly Ranch Education Center Wlike to eat and what’s something I STAgS’ LEAP wINERYhen I think of what to grow in mygarden, I ask myself, what do I could grow that I use every day? Olive oil is out of the question, salt not an option, garlic . . . easy! If you’re a gardener you probably spend a good portion of your time in the kitchen cooking up the bounty of fresh vegetables, and the base for most of those dishes begins with oil, salt and crushed garlic to wake up the flavor. Luckily for us, garlic is one of the easiest plants to grow, and November is the time to make sure you have some in the ground for harvest in the early summer. Garlic is the one thing I recommend gardeners have growing during the winter months, along with hardy greens like kale or chard and plenty of cover crops to build soil. So let’s give you some details about how to grow great garlic. Garlic is not a fussy plant and Stags’ Leap Winery, on one of California’s earliest wine estates, is a place of great natural beauty. de- does not require any termined to use the land it has called home for many special fertilizers to years as little and as efficiently as possible, Stags’ Leap grow well, but it does holds environmental sustainability as a core focus. need loose, well-drained soil so that the bulb Resource efficiency and reducing emissions are can reach a good size. central to the winery’s environmental sustainabil- ity program. Stags’ Leap is specifically targeting im- Raised beds are perfect. provement in energy and water efficiency. Through If you have beds in the involvement with the Wine Industry efficiency Solu- ground, fork well and tions Program (WIeS), it is partnering with its energy add soil amendment or provider (PG& e) and a third party engineering firm mature compost. You to perform audits on how energy is used within the can use garlic cloves winery, and where it can be conserved. Already the from the store, but you winery has significantly reduced its carbon emissions are better off with garlic per unit case produced by using solar power gener- from a local nursery ated by their solar arrays. that is of good genetic Sustainable management of the vineyards is an- stock and intended for growing. Simply pull off the cloves and plant one clove other of the winery’s main environmental focus areas. every 6 inches apart and 2 inches deep, with the pointed end up toward the sun. Stags’ Leap made a commitment to gain third party Cover with soil, water if there is no rain, and green shoots will appear in a week or sustainable certification for all of its estate owned two, depending on the soil temperature. Keep the area weed-free throughout the vineyards, and to date 100% of the vineyards have winter, and mound soil around the base to cover the bulb. reached their goal for sustainable certification. The Garlic will begin to mature in early June. The best way to tell if it is mature vineyards are certified by the California Sustainable enough to pick is by gently getting your finger into the soil and around the base of Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA), under the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW). Stags’ the bulb to check for size. If you plant extra you can harvest some early as spring Leap has also received third party recognition under garlic and use the whole plant, tops and all. Garlic is also easy to store, so grow the Napa Green Program for its sustainable practices enough to last into the summer salsa-making season! in water use and water quality, soil health, waste and carbon emissions. Connolly Ranch | 3141 Browns Valley Road, Napa For more information on the Napa County Green 707-224-1984 | www.connollyranch.org Business Program visit www.greenbusinessca.org or contact Danielle Schmitz at dschmitz@nctpa.net. 60 w w w. N A PA V A L L E Y L I F E M A g A z I N E . C O M
NVLife_NovDec_2012
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