Garlic

mollyhespra wrote:Speaking of garlic, my elephant garlic order arrived yesterday all packaged up neatly in little labelled mesh bags...BUT some of the cloves (they arrived in cloves vs. the whole bulb intact) have lost part or most of their innermost layer of skin. I think I may have been the culprit in trying to count how many cloves I got without opening the bag--I think I rubbed them together too roughly which I think loosened the skins, but regardless, the point of my post is to ask if I can plant them "in the buff" so to speak. I've never planted any type of garlic before, so I'm a complete noob when it comes to this...so...before I convince myself to just eat the nekkid cloves, any advice?

OH, and P.S. I read somewhere (maybe in this forum?) to plant elephant garlic in the spring, not fall...any thoughts on this? I'm in zone 4, so maybe if I give 'em a good blanket of mulch they'll be OK?

I've accidentally removed the paper on garlic cloves before. Some grew anyway, some rotted in the ground. One thing is for sure though, if you don't plant them, they won't grow.

Your local extension office should know when to plant garlic.

by mollyhespra on 10/4/2012, 5:28 pm

OH, and P.S. I read somewhere (maybe in this forum?) to plant elephant garlic in the spring, not fall...any thoughts on this? I'm in zone 4, so maybe if I give 'em a good blanket of mulch they'll be OK?

I have never grown garlic before but I bought a pack of elephant garlic the other day. The package said to "Plant in the fall, before the first frost hardens the Soil...Plant vegetables in fall for a jump start on your summer garden... Cold hardiness 0 to -10* F."

I just received my order of two types of softneck garlic -
Late Italian and Chinese Pink. This is only my second yr of planting garlic.
Next fall I will be adventurous and plant some hardneck!

Oh, boy, Dunkinjean, please, pretty please, let me know next year how your Chinese Pink came out. And, what you think of the taste. Yep, it's early, but in our West Coast Mel's Mix it wasn't very strong. For folks liking mild, it'd be perfect, but we like a stronger garlic'y taste. It's better by far, though, than the imported Grown-in-China stuff that shows up here in spring grocery bins, but it's not salsa type. That's my opinion, please let me know what East Coast growing conditions does to it. Thanks, Nonna

53 garlic cloves were planted 3 weeks ago and 23 have sprouted, some as much as 3 inches tall.
I was anticipating healthy cloves but not sure I want to see this much growth already... admit I'm too new at this garlic growing stuff. My local nursery said planting a few weeks ago was ok, but still.... And garlic is tough, right? Sorry for the rambling, it's late.

Nonna,
I was a little hesitant in growing Chinese Pink Garlic but I know we don't like a strong garlic so and I wanted to try something new - only my 2nd yr. Next yr I will probrably try another type.
I will be happy to let you know how it grows!
Last yr I didn't get as much garlic as I thought I would but I believe I waited too long to harvest them. But I am willing to try again since they are so easy to grow!

Dunkinjean, we got a good crop of Chinese Pink last year (our first year for it); it braided up beautifully. But, a bit of warning, it does not store very long, so eat it up quickly. With the way the bulbs dried out hanging in the kitchen, I recommend keeping the bulbs/cloves you want to replant in such a way to keep them from disiccation--like storing in cool, dark basement the potatoes like perhaps. When we realized what was happening, we sorted through for the hardest cloves and planted them in early September. Hope it works for us. Nonna

Nonna,
Thanks for the info - about the Chinese Pink - I will certainly keep that in mind.

I have just received my garlic and planted about 200 cloves. They are Porcelins Leningrad hardneck and yugaslavian. The other ones I had ordered have not arrived yet because the company was waiting for the persian star which did not arrive so they phoned me and asked if they could substitute.
So should get them this week.
Musica is one of them and Red Russian is the other one. This is the first time I have kept track and labeled each of the beds, so excited to sample them.
I was just reading an interesting blurb on Garlic, and how we got all of these ones with Russian names...it seems confusing, but here is why.

Most of the early garlic in the US came with immigrants from Poland, Germany and Italy. In 1989 the Soviet Union finally invited the Americans into the Caucasus region to collect garlic varieties. They were only allowed to travel at night (in military areas) and as they went from village to village along the old Silk Road, they named the cultivars from the towns where they were purchased. Hence, we often have a variety known by more than one name.

GWN did you plant your garlic in the SFG? how many per square and how far apart?

I like the story of collecting the garlic in the Caucasus region, thanks for sharing!

camprn wrote:GWN did you plant your garlic in the SFG? how many per square and how far apart?

I like the story of collecting the garlic in the Caucasus region, thanks for sharing!

+1.
And camp, that avatar is awesome

Also, is it true you need to rotate your garlic beds every year?

GWN did you plant your garlic in the SFG? how many per square and how far apart?

I like the story of collecting the garlic in the Caucasus region, thanks for sharing!

Actually I did plant many of them in SFG and WHAT A JOY it has been getting the SFG part of my garden ready for winter.
They all have had other plants in them and as I have harvested, I have fluffed and actually pulled out the plants roots and all, at least that is what I have done for the beds for the garlic. I do not think you need to rotate as long as you are adding lots of good stuff. I have added lots of my great compost to each of the beds where the garlic has gone. I have planted about 9 per square, I have given a little more room for the largest cloves.

Since I started my SFG in February, my last years garlic was NOT in SFG, I just planted them in all the places where I took the potatoes out of. Seemed to work well.
I have planted SOOOO many garlic though that I am going to have to make more beds as there are not many crops that I can wait until Mid July to plant. ANY thoughts :scratch: I am thinking maybe my fall spinach and fall peas??

I just came in from planting garlic too. Just 2 types (thanks to this forum for opening my eyes to the wide possibilities of types, I had no idea. Thanks for the story of night garlic collecting in the Caucasus) I planted 4/sq with the Purple Bavarian, thinking I could inter plant carrots in the spring with them. The Purple Glazer had such big cloves that I did some at 4/sq and most at 2/sq.

I just thought of something. I did the garlic types in two 3X4 blocks. I plan to make 2 plantings of carrots. So I should make them 18"X8' to see how they do with the various spacings and types of garlic. Now to remember till spring

HMMM
Carrots, what a great idea.
I am just now harvesting the first of my carrots and they were SOOOO slow to get going, really by the time they are getting going the garlic will be going going gone....
I dunno
I also have started many stawberry plants where my garlic was

Turen, not to hurt your feelings, but garlic and carrots are both root crops, so are you sure that's an optimum pairing? Personally, I never plant anything with my garlic, just sift a bit of leaf shavings amongst the plants, and about Middle of April, and again last of May, I side dress with compost. So far, so good. How about in early spring interplanting with lettuce (grows fast, you eat it early, and remove before the garlic is making its ripening sprint)? Nonna

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Turen, not to hurt your feelings, but garlic and carrots are both root crops, so are you sure that's an optimum pairing? Personally, I never plant anything with my garlic, just sift a bit of leaf shavings amongst the plants, and about Middle of April, and again last of May, I side dress with compost. So far, so good. How about in early spring interplanting with lettuce (grows fast, you eat it early, and remove before the garlic is making its ripening sprint)? Nonna

No feelings hurt. I am not sure it is an optimum pairing and I was also considering various greens instead like I did this year. Beans have worked for me this way as well (against the advice of all companion planting guides). But I wanted to try the carrots this time thinking of them as a much deeper root and with not too thick a leafy part to keep the garlic too damp. This last year I saw some carrot root maggot damage, first time ever. I saw in 2 companion guides suggesting they do well together (they might be using each other as sources I do not know but it is vaguely reassuring).

With that information, Turan, go for it. Perhaps divide your planting: one part with carrot/garlic, the other with garlic/lettuce. See if there's a difference. Side note: one of the most successful planting of garlic I made last year was in a bed that had grown some nice tomatoes that summer. Don't know if it was the Mel's mix or the compounds the tomato roots left in the MM that made it successful. Let us know what your planting arrangement gives you next summer! Nonna

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/10812968/Ancient-black-garlic-recipe-found-by-farmer.html

In case you dont know what an Aga is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_cooker and I've always wanted one, but they are not very efficient these days. 

I was curious as to what kind of garlic everyone is planting and where they get them from?

wcfujita wrote:I was curious as to what kind of garlic everyone is planting and where they get them from?

http://fedcoseeds.com/bulbs/search.php?search=garlic

I've always used Hood River Garlic in Oregon.  They grow organic and my harvest has always been amazing!


http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com

rillgardens wrote:I've always used Hood River Garlic in Oregon.  They grow organic and my harvest has always been amazing!


http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com

I am checking their website but it seems everything I look at is sold out already!

wcfujita wrote:I was curious as to what kind of garlic everyone is planting and where they get them from?

I buy the California ones from Agway.  And pick up the odd one here and there at the farmers markets and such to experiment with.

Then I lose track of what's planted where... 

CC

I mentioned it on another post but Filaree farm in Washington state(?) still had 400 pounds of garlic for sale as of this past Monday.