Garlic

[flowerbug]

...
P.S. I came down with a cold after this... guess the wind was pitching, and I was catching.

there's a lot of crud going around right now. hope you get over this quickly.

 

[flowerbug]

Big cloves and small cloves all look the same once dehydrated & ground. I don't even bother peeling small cloves, just split & dehydrate. Once dry, the skins separate when vigorously whisked or shaken, and can be winnowed away. Of course, the best solution is to grow garlic that has few small cloves.

i would not trust the garlic this year to that sort of treatment because there is a lot of brown spots and other stuff going on with them.

 

[Branching Out]

JUST when I think I need to be creative and start my garlic inside, I read aNOTHER article that says to plant between Halloween and Thanksgiving, (4th Thursday of November.)
So...I guess I will till up and plant in the next week.

Planting dates definitely vary by region. Here in B.C. folks in the cold north may plant in late September, and we on the south coast tend to plant from Halloween through mid-November when the soil is cold and wet. It would be very unusual for our ground to freeze solid during this time frame, so poking the cloves in the ground even in late November has never been an issue for me. Planting too early can be risky though, as the warm soil can encourage fungal diseases to proliferate.

In our area the goal is for the garlic to put down roots-- but not shoots. Then the roots continue to grow slowly over the coldest part of the winter and the green top growth follows in January or February, depending on the cultivar. Most of the garlic sites that I have consulted suggest that it is better to err on the side of caution and plant garlic a little on the late side rather than planting it too early. (Rasa Creek Farm has such good information on growing garlic).

 

[majorcatfish]

this years elephant garlic was a true harvest..

after curing them took a handful and dehydrated them...

you know elephant garlic makes really good garlic powder..

replanted the rest October 1st along with 50 purple glazer garlic, everyone is coming up nicely, side dressed them yesterday.

as of today whats above ground
23 3rd year cloves
8 2nd year bulbs
planted 20-30 corms results will be in the pudding next spring guess their shy
50 purple glazer.

 

[Zeedman]

i would not trust the garlic this year to that sort of treatment because there is a lot of brown spots and other stuff going on with them.

Mine is all OK, just a little smaller than expected... probably due to the very dry conditions for the first half of Summer. I'll be dehydrating it after I get over the crud; cut garlic is only slightly less irritating to a cough than cut onions. Same goes, BTW, for the hot peppers I still need to clean for seed.

 

[Zeedman]

In our area the goal is for the garlic to put down roots-- but not shoots. Then the roots continue to grow slowly over the coldest part of the winter and the green top growth follows in January or February, depending on the cultivar. Most of the garlic sites that I have consulted suggest that it is better to err on the side of caution and plant garlic a little on the late side rather than planting it too early. (Rasa Creek Farm has such good information on growing garlic).

(added emphasis mine)
IMO that is good advice, regardless of one's growing zone. In my climate, the most important thing is for the cloves to form roots before the ground freezes, to anchor them against frost heave. So planting after the killing frost - but several weeks before the ground freezes - is a good general planting strategy.

A good layer of mulch is helpful too, to prevent the ground from freezing too rapidly after planting, and prevent premature sprouting during late Winter warm spells. The mulch also helps to minimize weed pressure, which is important for good bulb size.

 

[flowerbug]

i plant them deeply enough that it is rare to have frost heaving them out even if they do start growing. in my mind, energy is energy and the plant can use what is provided so if they sprout and grow some in the fall and sometimes even stay green under the snow that's ok with me. the quality of the garlic seems fine as long as we don't get too much wet towards the end of the season.

 

[Branching Out]

i knew from your likely cooking that you knew about green garlic and probably use it but a lot of people in the USoA do not think of that at all so i've kinda made it my mission to keep mentioning it because it is really good but also just because i like gardens and it's a good use of all those scapes or small cloves if you don't eat them or want to do anything else with them.

This article from Pam Dawling reinforced the points that you made flowerbug. I have never grown green garlic before, but it may be time to give it a try; our friends have a hoop house that sits empty over the winter, so perhaps I could plant some in there. I have quite a number of small cloves of Aglio Rosso left over from planting yesterday, and I'll bet that they would make delicious green garlic.

Planting Garlic and Garlic Scallions

I have often written about garlic, and here I am going to focus on planting garlic. But before that, I want to encourage you to make the most of the opportunity to also plant a bonus crop: g…

www.sustainablemarketfarming.com

 

[flowerbug]

... I have quite a number of small cloves of Aglio Rosso left over from planting yesterday, and I'll bet that they would make delicious green garlic.

wow is that a nice color garlic. the type i grow here has some red at times but not like that.

i should have also noted that if you are planting for green garlic then you can plant deeper to get more of the white/blanched stem.

 

[Branching Out]

So for the first time ever I have planted small garlic cloves in furrows, in the hopes of harvesting 'garlic scallions' come February or March. Thank you for the nudge flowerbug. This will be an adventure. When I was cracking bulbs for planting my 500 or so regular seed garlic I segregated small bulbs of different strains such as Purple cultivars, artichokes, porcelains (those cloves were quite enormous, so I spaced them out a bit), Creoles, and Rocamboles so I could label their planting sites. I thought it could be fun to see which type matures earliest in late winter. I hope to place a layer of Japanese maple leaves on top of these beds soon, to insulate them. I still have some special bulbils of a really nice garlic that a friend gifted me that I want to plant in a container, but apart from that I am all done with planting garlic. Happy dance!