Re: Just pulled garlic

bigdogrock 7/25/2016, 2:34 pm

Storage? At my house fresh garlic has the life expectancy of a snow flake at a July noon sunny

in Death Valley, It is either replanted in the fall or eaten hungry

CapeCoddess 7/25/2016, 3:04 pm

Rock, do you grow a bunch of garlic? Or just a few? Mine will last until next seasons harvest. I can't bare to buy store garlic anymore.
Mad

This years new garlic, about 60 heads, will stay on the line until used or planted: Just pulled garlic - Page 2 05211

bigdogrock 7/25/2016, 3:22 pm

Nice pic CC. Not a whole bunch, just a 4X4 (every 6 inches) in MM. Next year I am going to plant garlic as a bug perimeter on every garden I have and I will probably space them at about 4-5 inches, I am now looking for places that sale a suitable type of garlic for this altitude and zone. This is going to be a mini "garlic central" next year.
Also, thanks to BeetlesPerSqFt, thanks

she got me so interested by one of her posts, I learned that I can grow onions here, rahrah

I just need to find the right kind.

**trolleydriver** 7/25/2016, 3:26 pm

Nice garlic harvest CC.

Just pulled garlic - Page 2 Garlic-cartoon-happy-raising-his-arms-33258737

**trolleydriver** 7/25/2016, 3:38 pm

This what my garlic plants look like with leaves turning brown at the top.

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CindyLouWho 7/25/2016, 3:52 pm

This is my first year for square foot gardening and my first time to grow garlic. I got cloves of elephant garlic from a neighbor. Wow! I harvested them a little over a month ago and when I cooked with them for the first time, I was blown away by the flavor. SO MUCH better than anything I've ever bought at the store. Now I want to grow more garlic next year and add in onions since I buy more onions at the grocery store than anything else.

bigdogrock 7/25/2016, 9:54 pm

Hey Cindy Lou, we have a few things in common. Garlic and Onions! I wish I was in a warmer zone, (I'm listed as 6a) I would grow a lot more onions. Until recently I thought I was never going to be able to grow them.
I do like garlic and grow it every year, next year I will grow a great deal more. One thing I have learned, or in my experience, the garlic I have grown here in the past seems to do much better than new types. My neighbor told me this and it seems to play out that way.
Any how, ask the locals what seems to grow the best and has the best flavor, I am sure they will let you know. Make sure you post pictures, we all like those. BTW, I find I never plant enough garlic!

plantoid 7/26/2016, 1:32 am

When you guys & gals have garlic or onions ready for harvesting , do you gently use a hand fork deep under the bulb to gently start lifting /loosening the soil a little bit each day ? So that by the end of the week the bulb roots are fully out of the ground then lay the lifted bulb either on the soil or a wire rack to let it season/ ripen fully & dry off a bit more in the sun before putting them in a storage situation ?

**sanderson** 7/26/2016, 4:25 am

I take both out completely to cure/dry. My weather is dry except for 5-11" of rain. Others?

CapeCoddess 7/26/2016, 10:13 am

plantoid wrote:When you guys & gals have garlic or onions ready for harvesting , do you gently use a hand fork deep under the bulb to gently start lifting /loosening the soil a little bit each day ? So that by the end of the week the bulb roots are fully out of the ground then lay the lifted bulb either on the soil or a wire rack to let it season/ ripen fully & dry off a bit more in the sun before putting them in a storage situation ?

No. No fork. The MM is so friable that they lift right out by their leaves. Mine can stay outside for a day or so sometimes to dry but when it's humid, they go onto the basement clothesline or the screen across the chair. Which is where they end up for storage anyway. The harvested onions are currently in that pink basket below the garlic, on a wire plant stand. I don't have the screen set up yet.

CC

CindyLouWho 7/26/2016, 10:27 am

plantoid wrote:When you guys & gals have garlic or onions ready for harvesting , do you gently use a hand fork deep under the bulb to gently start lifting /loosening the soil a little bit each day ? So that by the end of the week the bulb roots are fully out of the ground then lay the lifted bulb either on the soil or a wire rack to let it season/ ripen fully & dry off a bit more in the sun before putting them in a storage situation ?

Mine pulls out of the soil easily. I shake off the soil that's clinging to the roots and then take the garlic inside to dry/cure. It sits in a hanging metal basket in my kitchen for about a month and then I start using it.

**llama momma** 7/26/2016, 3:06 pm

plantoid wrote:When you guys & gals have garlic or onions ready for harvesting , do you gently use a hand fork deep under the bulb to gently start lifting /loosening the soil a little bit each day ? So that by the end of the week the bulb roots are fully out of the ground then lay the lifted bulb either on the soil or a wire rack to let it season/ ripen fully & dry off a bit more in the sun before putting them in a storage situation ?

My garlic info comes from garlic farmer Ron Engeland and his book, Growing Great garlic.
Garlic can be forked up out of the ground at harvest time. Mel's mix we all know is so soft and friable. Therefore, I am able to tug straight up from the base of the leaves near the soil line. If its a big bulb I certainly stick my hand into the soil and around the bulb and loosen the roots. You don't want to bruise the garlic with a hand fork so just be careful if you choose to use it. And you want to preserve the skins that are on the bulb. Then the garlic then goes right into the shade not the sun! And off to the area where they are going to cure for the next 2-4 weeks. According to Ron, direct sun will burn them.

I knock off excessive dirt, being careful as the skins are tender. Under the fans they go to cure.

**llama momma** 7/26/2016, 3:13 pm

CC
Your hanging garlic is a beautiful sight!! Congrats!!

plantoid 7/26/2016, 3:14 pm

Thanks ,

Evidently according to the old timers books I've read , the slow gentle easing of the bulb out the MM or soil is done so you don't sever all the roots from the soil at once. Thus the plant has a few days of time to start producing a lot more flavour & eye watering strength like it would in do a dry hot country area such as Southern Spain & it becomes better for long term storage for doing it .

**llama momma** 7/26/2016, 3:30 pm

Yes Plantoid, I too leave the roots on while curing. Here is a current picture and yes, all coats were banished from this lovely coat rack to make room for the more important garlic.

Just pulled garlic - Page 2 Untitl11

plantoid 7/27/2016, 4:30 pm

Not much garlic there Laughing

Last year I lifted 87 large bulbs.. unfortunately by early May this year the remaining ones had dried out too much and ended up full of holes like loofahs

CapeCoddess 7/27/2016, 4:50 pm

llama momma wrote:CC
Your hanging garlic is a beautiful sight!! Congrats!!

Thank you.

**llama momma** 7/27/2016, 6:16 pm

plantoid wrote:Not much garlic there
Last year I lifted 87 large bulbs.. unfortunately by early May this year the remaining ones had dried out too much and ended up full of holes like loofahs

Aww that stinks that yours dried out.

And actually, you're right! - my haul is terribly small from salvaging what I could from last years messy harvest. The most I harvested so far was around 125 I think from 3 or 4 years ago. That was a lot of garlic for 2 people. It's interesting how I had a couple years of success and expected it to be the norm. Last years sickly harvest was a sobering eye opening reality check. I online ordered/reserved new stock for this autumn. The prices keep jumping up, sadly.

**trolleydriver** 7/27/2016, 6:20 pm

Yikes ... 87 ... 125 ... bulbs. I'll be lucky if I get 12 for my first garlic harvest. Sad

**llama momma** 7/27/2016, 6:34 pm

Have to start somewhere TD!

CapeCoddess 7/28/2016, 11:32 am

llama momma wrote: It's interesting how I had a couple years of success and expected it to be the norm. Last years sickly harvest was a sobering eye opening reality check.

I'd love to hear what you think happened. I'm under the impression that my harvests will be the norm also. Did you plant them in the same box year after year? Were you compost or watering habits different? What was different, do you know?

trolleydriver wrote:Yikes ... 87 ... 125 ... bulbs. I'll be lucky if I get 12 for my first garlic harvest.

It all depends on how much garlic you eat in a year, TD. I've backed down a bit. This spring I had so many left over from last year that I planted the extras everywhere - around the fruit trees, in the hosta hedges, as grids markers for the SFG - wherever I could find an empty spot in they went. I'm not harvesting those. They are just to deter bugs.

CC

**llama momma** 7/28/2016, 12:55 pm

CC

Last years sickly garlic harvest was in a brand new box. I am suspicious of the placement of the box near the bottom of a gentle-slight slope, maybe keeping things too moist for garlic. (?)

This year so far I didn't plant anything in that box. But will try Autumn broccoli in it with no worries of wet spring weather which maybe caused garlic issues.

**trolleydriver** 7/28/2016, 1:53 pm

I decided to go ahead and pull up the garlic. I got 13 bulbs (plus one from a few days ago). They are not very big. Now don't laugh too hard when you see where I hung them for curing. For years we have had three big wooden painted butterflies above the back door of our garage and under a roof that goes out over part of the patio. They are somewhat dated but I have been too lazy to take them down. I knew they would be useful for something someday.

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**sanderson** 7/28/2016, 8:25 pm

Re-purposing at its finest.

**trolleydriver** 7/28/2016, 8:44 pm

sanderson wrote:Re-purposing at its finest.

Found a problem with this location. It gets the late afternoon and early evening sun. I read that the garlic should be kept out of direct sun while curing. Other possible locations are inside the garage, inside the garden shed, under the big pine tree and in the basement. Maybe I will try a few bulbs in each location to see which works best.

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