Anyone harvested garlic yet?

Last year I ordered several different garlic bulbs from Karen and Mike's We Grow Garlic. I loved the fact that I could order individual varieties by the bulb & not by the pound. I planted in the early Fall and I harvested them two weeks ago. I was quite pleased with the results. I plan on replanting the majority of them after taste testing to see if there is much difference in the flavors.

I have 2 mysterious softneck varieties, almost ready!!!

I'm so proud of myself for keeping my varieties separated and labeled.

The Industrial Sharpie markers (I got mine at Staples) really work. they were still legible from last Fall, in full sun.

I'm so happy you posted this! Looks great!! I have been looking at getting garlic for this fall and deciding what I want to get. Does hard neck mean it will have scapes?

Keep us posted on how they all taste!

Yes, hardnecks are the garlics that send up scapes. However, some softnecks--artichoke varieties--can produce semi-scapes with large bulbils on the "stem." This is usually due to growing stress during the garlic's growth during the year. Chet's Italian Red produced these strange bulbils on the semi- scapes a couple of times in our garden, though it also produced nice big heads of garlic as though it had experienced good growing conditions. Go figure. Good tasting garlic, too. Our garlic this year is still 3 to 4 weeks away from harvest--been too cool, rainy and sunless to make garlic happy. I am sooo ready for fresh garlic! BTW, if you let the scapes produce the little cluster of bulbils at the top of the stalk, its fun to take the ripe little bulbils and scatter them in a cluster in an unused square of your SFG. Next spring you will have a mass of sprouts that look a lot like chives, and can be used the same way--but they have a wonderful delicate garlic flavor. Enjoy! Nonna

I bought from We Grow Garlic as well, but I am just now getting scapes, not sure how long until harvest....I planted October 23rd I want to say...

I am so excited I can barely stand it.

Jen

Middlemamma, Because you like garlic, and live so near to one of our favorite sources for great garlic varieties, you may enjoy a trip to Fillaree Garlic Farm in the Okanagan Valley of central Washington. They grow so many different kinds of garlic, I'll bet even they have forgotten some of the names! Good people to deal with. Most of our garlic has come from their farm. http://www.filareefarm.com/

I pulled my garlic on June 17, about the same time as Dixie. And I too ordered several varieties from We Grow Garlic...and I kept them all tagged using a Sharpie Industrial Marker. Great minds think alike, eh? I also have a chart of my SFG so I wrote the names down there too, just in case.

I harvested one variety at a time and bundled them together loosely with string. I used a hole punch and then tied their name tag with them. They are hanging in my hubby's workshop/garage, but I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow or later this week.

pattipan

Nonna, I followed the link from Filaree Farm to the heirloom garlic site. Sheesh, I had no idea there were so many garlic varieties!

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Middlemamma, Because you like garlic, and live so near to one of our favorite sources for great garlic varieties, you may enjoy a trip to Fillaree Garlic Farm in the Okanagan Valley of central Washington. They grow so many different kinds of garlic, I'll bet even they have forgotten some of the names! Good people to deal with. Most of our garlic has come from their farm. http://www.filareefarm.com/

So glad you posted this! I am going to Omak for 4th of July!! :o) I'll have to check it out!! :o)

Krazikandiland, Isn't there a rodeo in Omak? Or am I thinking of Winthrop? Neat part of the country anyway. Enjoy your Fourth.....and any garlic you may find along the way! Nonna

Nice harvest Dixie ...

I'm saving a spot this fall for some garlic squares. Will have to remember to plan ahead and save their spaces for the late spring / early summer harvest.

Thanks for sharing !

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Krazikandiland, Isn't there a rodeo in Omak? Or am I thinking of Winthrop? Neat part of the country anyway. Enjoy your Fourth.....and any garlic you may find along the way! Nonna

Winthrop is beautiful, I prefer it. It's a little more new age hippie. Snow shoeing and camping. Woods and slightly mountainous. Omak is a little more country and yes, a rodeo! My friend moved up there with her husband after college. I love Washington, so much to see and do. :o)

Enjoy your fourth too!

Here are the pics of my garlic (ordered from www.wegrowgarlic.com and planted last October). Only one of the varieties I planted were the softneck type, so they're in their respective bunches, but not braided.

I checked one of the bulbs and it still seemed too moist on the inside, so I am letting them cure for another week. It tastes wonderful, though!! Never had garlic this fresh. My DH wants them out of his workshop. I told him the smell would ward off eveil spirits, but he is not convinced.








pattipan

Patti, you got some great size bulbs there! Very nice! I harvested the first of the garlic, this all came out of 6 squares. It was sold as California White, it is a soft neck. I am going to try some different varieties in the autumn.

camprn wrote:Patti, you got some great size bulbs there! Very nice! I harvested the first of the garlic, this all came out of 6 squares. It was sold as California White, it is a soft neck. I am going to try some different varieties in the autumn.

Nice looking garlic, camprn! It is amazingly easy to grow, just like onions and shallots. I was surprised at how tall garlic gets, though!

It is fun to try the different varieties. I'm going to save cloves to plant this fall from my favorites of the ones I grew. I am looking forward to discovering which of the six that will be!

I also harvested my shallots last week, I'll post that pic in another thread.

pattipan

I would have to say that my intensive spacing when planting the garlic was successful, 81 bulbs of garlic can be grown in 8 square feet.

I just pulled the last of my garlic today. I pulled out 60 heads 2 weeks ago and had another 50 today. I ordered 4 different kind from wegrowgarlic.com and also managed to keep them labeled!
This big guy is an Estonian Red.

I've never grown one that big; is it a type of elephant garlic?

boffer wrote:

I've never grown one that big; is it a type of elephant garlic?

I don't know if it's an elephant garlic or not. It's called Estonian Red. I had 2 of them that size, the others are big but not that big.

I likey!!!

Boffer, elephant garlic is not true garlic. Allium, yes, but not one of the garlics--it's more closely related to leeks. But now that we're on the subject, so-called Egyptian walking onions are distantly related to garlic in that they do not produce flowers and seed, but do produce miniature bulbs of onions, similar to the way a hard neck garlic will produce bulbils (miniature garlic bulbs). Onions and most other alliums produce flowers and seed; garlic and "walking" onions only produce bulbs (which will grow into a mature onion or garlic). Ain't Nature wondermous? Nonna (who grows garlic, onions, walking onions and other odd plants....including leeks)

nonna do you grow shallots?

I picked my first garlic last week! I didn't look up spacing so just planted about 5 bulbs per square. Now I know to do more!



This came out of one square...grocery store garlic planted the first week of November.
Sorry...phone camera lol..

Yes, Camprn, I do raise shallots....not as much as I'd like, but that may change with the SFG beds. Don't know the exact variety of shallot in the beds now, but they're looking like it's about time to think about harvest. How about you? Nonna