Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garlic grow?

AtlantaMarie wrote:SG, what a NICE yard you have!  And is that corn I see in the background?

Thank you AtlantaMarie   Yes, it's corn! We have a little over 100 plants growing. Silver Queen and Kandy Korn. Under the corn is spinach, beets, carrots, Lima beans, yard long beans and Kentucky Wonder
We love our back yard, and have spent a great deal of effort on the garden, and it's finally paying off!
There are more pics in the "moved our beds" thread if you're interested
God bless!!

SG when did you plant your garlic?   It looks great.   I read at the boundary farms site that you can reach down with your finger to feel the lumps of the cloves

GWN, I THINK we planted it in November?? I really don't remember exactly, should write these things down?  Maybe I'll take a peek?? I don't want to disturb the root but I'm soo excited!  LOL I pulled back the chips a few weeks ago to verify it WAS a garlic and the bulb was only as big as the neck. So hope I'm not making a big deal out of nothing!  LOL. I'll go poke around hehe!! TY GWN!

Mine were planted in October...



OK   here are mine, LONG time till they will be ready.... they have not even started to send up scapes   MOST Of mine are hard necks so will not lay down...

lookin good GWN! I think ours are softnecks? From what I understand we can't grow much of hard necks around our area? I honestly don't know haha! I felt under the chips and soil, and it FEELS like it's about 3" across?? arrrrrgggggggg...I wanna pull it! haha! Keep me updated on yours...looks so nice!!

GWN wrote:Mine were planted in October...



OK   here are mine, LONG time till they will be ready.... they have not even started to send up scapes   MOST Of mine are hard necks so will not lay down...

No wonder mine never did lie down last year!  I didn't know that the hard necks don't.  Thanks!

Mine are looking good, planted last November but haven't a clue what they are like down below. Along with the shallots, and strawberries, it has given me a nice start for this year. I have heard tell that our last frost date is May 21st so looking forward to planting other stuff.

I wonder why my typeface is different?

welp, we pulled the garlic today!! It's a NICE one!! Here's the pic! I think I could have pulled it a couple of days ago, it split a little on the bottom, but man! Biggest one IVE ever grown for sure!! wahoooo!!!      

southern gardener wrote:

southern gardener wrote:Found this garlic under that volunteer cauliflower!!  Look at the size of the neck!! (I guess that's what it's called?) Can't wait to pull this sucker!!

the bottom few leaves are dying off....I want to pick it SOOOO badly and see how big the head is!!! How long should I wait??

 here is the pic of it a little while ago   soooo excited!!

wow that is one for the fall fair...... record breaker.
I would hazard a guess that that is the largest garlic I have ever seen.

WITH THAT in mind, I have a question.

Since my last years garlic are rotting AND I have WAYYYY too much garlic for this year.., I decided to pull a couple that were coupled with others..... in essence ...thinning

AND they were pretty much the same size as a green onion.... NO EVIDENCE OF cloves....
I am wondering when garlic DOES its little split thing.

GWN wrote:wow that is one for the fall fair...... record breaker.
I would hazard a guess that that is the largest garlic I have ever seen.

WITH THAT in mind, I have a question.

Since my last years garlic are rotting AND I have WAYYYY too much garlic for this year.., I decided to pull a couple that were coupled with others..... in essence ...thinning

AND they were pretty much the same size as a green onion.... NO EVIDENCE OF cloves....
I am wondering when garlic DOES its little split thing.

that's a good question? I read somewhere not to wait too long to pull, as it will cause splitting. I was waiting for the 3-4 dead leaves thing!! I'm happy tho! let me know if you find out the answer? Someone said to save the cloves from this one as it may produce big ones again?? Anyone know about this? sorta makes sense??

   Huge!!

Holy Toledo, SG!  I've never seen one that big!

 

If all garlic grew that large we wouldn't need to plant so many.  Just a thought.  Oh well, the longer we plant them the larger they are suppose to get so maybe someday. 

That one ought to last for a few recipes.   

Save some of the largest cloves for re-planting.

donnainzone10 wrote:Same some of the largest cloves for re-planting.

Yup.  That's what I do.  Only 2 years so far.  Maybe this year.

AtlantaMarie wrote:Holy Toledo, SG!  I've never seen one that big!

 

thanks guys   Someone thought it was an onion!  haha! I measured it. It's right at 4" across   I'll take it! I'm also heeding your advice to keep it for planting  Thank you for all the help and advice!!

greatgranny wrote:

donnainzone10 wrote:Same some of the largest cloves for re-planting.

Yup.  That's what I do.  Only 2 years so far.  Maybe this year.

I am at the same stage, this is my third year to harvest and also hoping for larger ones. I have a full 4 x 4 now are starting with a couple of large bulbs two years ago and they are looking good. I think mine are hardnecks.

southern gardener wrote:welp, we pulled the garlic today!! It's a NICE one!! Here's the pic! I think I could have pulled it a couple of days ago, it split a little on the bottom, but man! Biggest one IVE ever grown for sure!! wahoooo!!!      

so when you say only two years, you mean you've planted from the same line for two years? In other words, plant from THIS garlic next year, and then from the NEW garlic the year after that? etc etc??

That's right, SG.  Mother, daughter, grand-daughter, hopefully increasing the yield  and quality each time.

SG, that garlic is amazing! I don't think I've ever had a large garlic of any size. Maybe this year...

although maybe not. For about a month now  my garlic leaves have been yellowing and falling over for some reason, as are my neighbors. Our hard necks appear to be doing better than  the soft necks. I composted them the end of last month, and she uses fertilizer. Watering is once or twice a week as needed.

Any ideas, garlic pros? could they be wind whipped?

CC

CC mine are doing that too,  I read somewhere that a little yellow on the leaf tips could be many things NONE of them harmful.

I am wondering if anyone knows when the garlics split into cloves, the ones I pulled were just like green onions, ... NO separate cloves

Kelejan, OK...now I get it! tysm!! I will do that for sure. This one ended up being 4" across!! 
CC, we put lots of homemade compost in our beds, then buried everything in fresh wood chips last August, the beds exploded!  Then we buried them again with compost and added another fresh load of wood chips in the past few weeks, and everything took off again. There is another thread here called Back to Eden...I"m not sure if you've checked it out, but that's what we're doing and it's working REALLY well. I've never seen one this size either lol. I don't know about the wind whipped? We have had HOT weather here and have had a few spells of super high winds, in fact we are having wildfires as we speak. The chips just seem to do "something" and fix all sorts of problems. Even my smallest garlics are nice sized!
GWN, I don't know when garlics do their splitting thing? I hear boron is good for root crops? I wonder if that would help? I really don't know tho, so check it out first. 
God bless guys, and again, thank you for the tips

SG, there must be an upper limit to the size, can you imagine a garlic as large as a soccor ball?  Yes, that BTE thread is fascinating, especially when allied to SFG. I am only at the beginning stage having laid down some wood chips just a few weeks ago, and raw wood at that, the results of having eight large birch trees taken down due to dead, dying and dangerous branches.

I wonder also if the garlic gets too large that it would lose flavour or that it would get too tough? With many things such as runner beans, lettuce etc I still think small is beautiful.

As they tell us, save the large garlic to carry on, and eat the small ones first.

I have also read that garlic likes to stay on the same land. It takes a while for them to adapt, then before you know it you have your own personal strain of garlic.  

Details:

First year growing garlic, planted Red Inchelium.  36 cloves planted, 36 plants growing to date.
Planted January 1, 2014.  Tracker program (myfolia) says harvest was yesterday...the old wisdom says plant on shortest day of the year (missed that by a week and a half), harvest on longest day of the year (June 21).

What do you guys think?