Hello, everyone!
It's been beautiful colorful days of fall, I hope you all are enjoying it.
This post is the update for what we have done last week's agroecosystem management class at the Orchard.

We had an intense trio of storms this weekend from Oct 15th to 17th, meanwhile had to plant all garlic in before.
The plots divided into 20 subplots, were at the western area beside a bed of strawberry, and consist of 2 factorial treatments; monoculture of only garlic/polyculture with wheat, and big/small cobs of each garlic bulb. Each treatment has 5 replicates.

Meanwhile, We have done a list of things;
First, Spreading compost and tilling with the tractor.
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Then, splitting into experimental plots, breaking garlic bulbs, and planting them 6-rows (6-inch row and between plants spacing) per one subplot. For polyculture plots, there are 4-rows of wheat that seeded by using the Earhway seeder, so as the 2 rows of garlic are between the wheat. 

We made it before the dusk to set all garlic cloves into the ground. Dr. Mike's intention of this experiment is to see the potential correlation between planted clove size, as well as poly-culturing with wheat, could be proportional to the yields next year.

There is also an intention to harvest the wheat grains but we did not have a comparing "wheat-monoculture plot". Still, intercropping effects on garlic can be analyzed when we harvest them, such as resistance and resilience against environmental/biological stresses and shocks, not only the bulb size (Eric Block, 2010. "Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Science").

It is getting close to what people describe as the "Raincouver" here in wintertime, but I wish everyone is going to have a healthy, exciting, and meaningful end of the year 2016.

Cheers!
Masa