garlic rant

[snipes]

Perfect! Thank you.

[shevitz]

sorry, I've been off list for a few days. Yes you break it apart. Try to keep the paper intact, but I have in fact planted bare cloves (no wrapper) and not seen any difference. Just make sure the bottom (blunt end) is pointed down. Also make sure the top of the clove is about 1-2" below the ground, and the dirt is fine above it.

Danny

[snipes]

Well my son and I planted our garlic yesterday. WOW was it cold, at least for us southerners. I put down three bulbs worth each of California Early, Italian Softneck and Lorz Italian Softneck. Looking forward to a vampire free 2018.

[ken123]

I find Elephant garlic too wimpy - almost like an onion. Heresy - I buy the already peeled garlic in small quantities (not Costco quantities). I just find the time peeling them just too much of a PITA - and I can see what I'm getting. More of a 'smash and go'.

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Ken

[timos]

without this thread we probably wouldnt have got garlic in our garden, but we did and very happy about it!

[Mike9]

I planted 200 hardnecks yesterday and covered with four bales of straw . . . my back was sore this morning . . . but I slept like a log.

[snipes]

Had to go back three pages to get to this thread...yeah that was a long garlic season. The kiddos and I harvested our garlic haul two weeks ago and they are finishing up drying in the basement. Some of the larger ones are still a bit wet inside so I'm going to give them another week or two to completely dry out. It was a fun experiment with excellent results. We didn't lose a single one, though a couple were small and questionable. Unsure if I went too long on some, but considering we harvested in early June I don't think so. We waited until the green stems were about 50% wilted. Pics below. Thanks for the tips and encouragement. It was relatively easy stuff and will be doing it again in the fall.

[Lepus]

Oh, that's awesome.

[shevitz]

Congratulations. Those look mighty fine and plentiful. The only observation I might have is that if I zoom the bottom photo, the closeup, I may see some individual cloves without a bulb wrapper. If so, they went too long. Those won't keep so use them first. A trick I found is that if you peel and put in the freezer in a ziploc bag with a paper towl to absorb moisture, they will keep perfectly for a few years. There is a trick for peeling large quantities. Put the cloves in a large sealed bowl and shake vigorously. The paper magically comes off. There is a youtube video demonstrating.

[Jeff B]

My garlic is still about two weeks out. The bottom of the stems are just starting to turn but buy the second week of July they'll be ready to come out of the ground.

[Kit Craft]

That is a bit of garlic you have there, nice! We eat a lot of garlic. I miss being able to buy garlic in bundles from the local market that was "green". I like young/green garlic, called "ajo tierno" in Spain. Yummy stuff. Just like buying spring onions. Might have to look into trying to grow some too. Thanks for bring this thread back up.

[snipes]

Congratulations. Those look mighty fine and plentiful. The only observation I might have is that if I zoom the bottom photo, the closeup, I may see some individual cloves without a bulb wrapper. If so, they went too long. Those won't keep so use them first. A trick I found is that if you peel and put in the freezer in a ziploc bag with a paper towl to absorb moisture, they will keep perfectly for a few years. There is a trick for peeling large quantities. Put the cloves in a large sealed bowl and shake vigorously. The paper magically comes off. There is a youtube video demonstrating.

Thanks for the tip. I'll be sure to give them a careful review during the final cleanup.

[shevitz]

In NM, we are having this awful drought and I pulled my plants yesterday. They were more than half dried which is really too late, but this is my earliest harvest by 2 weeks ever.

[Jeff B]

In NM, we are having this awful drought and I pulled my plants yesterday. They were more than half dried which is really too late, but this is my earliest harvest by 2 weeks ever.

Mine are usually perfect at mid July. It has been so wet this year the bulbs are huge but they aren't looking as nearly "ready" to come out of the ground as they usually do at this time.

[old onion]

I have 140 garlic plants and the bottom one or two leaves are turning brown.The very top tip of the plants are brown also.I guess this might put me in about the 2nd week of July for harvest,providing we get some hot,dry weather so the soil loosens and the moisture starts leaving the garlic.But all this rain..geeze,when is it going to stop? We had an inch last night.This rain came from the west so I can't blame this one on Kentucky.

[LostHighway]

I think most of what is available this time of year is softneck garlic which has smaller cloves but keeps better. Hardneck garlic tends to have smaller bulbs but larger fewer, larger, cloves and stronger and more complex flavor. I think warm climate growing areas may only produce softneck varieties. In the northern tier states the hardneck garlic harvest usually starts in mid to late July and availability continues into the fall or early winter.