Of Garlic and Lessons Learned...

[Zeedman]

I was able to finish weeding & prepping the garlic bed today, and planted 30 each of the 5 varieties in my previous posts. Couldn't put the hay mulch on the bed though (ran out of time) so that will have to wait. A good soaking rain tonight is watering it in.

 

[flowerbug]

...A good soaking rain tonight is watering it in.

yes, i'm very happy we got some rain here too last night. watering the garlic in that i planted the other day.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

@Shades-of-Oregon : I worked in a garlic and onion dehydration plant back in the late 70's, early 80's. Gilroy CA. Home of the Garlic Festival!! After a few years, they introduced garlic ice cream.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has distributed more than $12 million to the community through its annual, family-friendly celebration of the famous bulb since 1979. Local non-profits participating in the festival have raised millions more. The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association aims to be a chain that links together residents, businesses, nonprofits, faith groups, schools, and other local institutions in a collaborative and supportive expression of “community.”"

 

[Shades-of-Oregon]

@Shades-of-Oregon : I worked in a garlic and onion dehydration plant back in the late 70's, early 80's. Gilroy CA. Home of the Garlic Festival!! After a few years, they introduced garlic ice cream.

The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has distributed more than $12 million to the community through its annual, family-friendly celebration of the famous bulb since 1979. Local non-profits participating in the festival have raised millions more. The Gilroy Garlic Festival Association aims to be a chain that links together residents, businesses, nonprofits, faith groups, schools, and other local institutions in a collaborative and supportive expression of “community.”"

Thank goodness someone else has heard of garlic icecream. Not many have and this is a strange flavor , it’s really good. People come from miles to the event every year . it’s great for a small town supports several small stores in our 2 block little town.

 

[Zeedman]

A little off topic... but when I lived in San Jose in the 80's, I once got a traffic ticket for my lead foot. I was offered traffic school, as an alternative to stricter punishment, and had to choose from available training sites. Unfortunately, I confused Los Gatos with Gilroy - which was over 30 miles away. It turned out to be a pleasant drive, and I learned about the Garlic Festival from some of the other attendees. I think that event is what sparked my love of home grown garlic.

 

[ducks4you]

I am SO GRATEFUL that I get a garlic do-over.
DD planted 11 large bulbs, 7-8 cloves each for me last weekend. JUST IN TIME!!
I need to start my 2025 gardening calendar bc I am Sure that I will foget to deal with the scapes next summer!
I understand this to be mid-June in my neck of the woods.
Since I am an avid canner--who here Doesn't know this?!?--I plan to harvest the scapes and pickle them, best way for Me to use them.
@Zeedman, have you grown/used German Red garlic?
I have read that it is an excellent strong tasting garlic, which youngest DD would absolutetly Love!

https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing/2019-09-17-how-grow-garlic

 

[Zeedman]

@Zeedman, have you grown/used German Red garlic?
I have read that it is an excellent strong tasting garlic, which youngest DD would absolutetly Love!

When my garlic collection was much larger (36 varieties) German Red was one of the ones I grew. Sad to say, it was not very productive for me. I never had a chance to rate its flavor... providing samples for local chefs to evaluate was planned, but I lost the entire collection before that could happen.

 

[ducks4you]

@Zeedman , am So sorry about the German Red Garlic. What a bummer!!
You had to wait a whole year for that crop!

 

[Zeedman]

Started the garlic dehydration a few days ago. Special Idaho was losing its clove skins & keeps poorly, so it goes first. I'm tracking the % of dry matter for each variety, so will weigh before & after dehydration.

Special Idaho, peeled & sliced. 4 trays, 56 ounces total.

Special Idaho, after dehydration. 18 ounces... so 32% dry matter.

Been busy with the SUV & trailer, hauling metal salvage for my brother & helping my daughter move. I had thought all of the 3 garlic varieties I dropped had been given away, but found a few bulbs of Georgian Crystal Fire (*mislabeled in photo) in the back, in an ice cream pail. I dropped it because it only gets 3-4 cloves per bulb, so not much of an increase (much less than German White, of the same sub-type). I'll miss those fat cloves though.