Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
tjg911

garlic harvest

TJG911
16 years ago

planted them on columbus day it was cold about 42-44 degrees. harvested them last night it was hot upper 80's with humidity, coulda rang out my clothes in 10 minutes and it was not very hard work.

i really did great, i'm quite impressed. an unknown hardneck about 2" in diameter (about 20 bulbs), georgian crystal seem to have rather smallish bulbs (about 16 bulbs) about 1.5-1.75", german white just a little bigger maybe 1.75- 2" (about 40 bulbs) but the music are good sized bulbs (about 85-90 bulbs) about 2-3".

i'm seriously considering not planting potatoes next year (waiting to see the harvest but it's never that good) and using that 100-120 sq ft for garlic in addition to the 48 sq ft used this year. potatoes yield so little for the space, garlic is a much better use of that space plus i eat a lot of garlic.

tom

Comments (4)

  • korney19
    16 years ago

    What!? No Siberian, Tom? They were my largest heads/bulbs (excluding Elephant.) Most were 3-4" or more.

    I got some bad blisters from trimming everything with medical scissors yesterday, tore the skin right off & didn't realize due to existing Carpal & Cubital Tunnel pain. Everything is bagged except for Elephant & a few heads that I lost names for, plus just picked the last 8 Music out in the "pumpkin patch." I'll just eat the no-names unless I can positively match them up. I had them all drying in a little greenhouse with shade cloth for the last week or 2.

    The 2 on the left plus the Round next to them are Elephant, the next 3 at about 1-2 o'clock of the Quarter are Siberian. Haven't tasted anything [raw] yet...pic was day of/after harvest... I grew 10 different varieties...

    {{gwi:97385}}

  • TJG911
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Hi Mark,

    I bought garlic from a local organic farmer at a farmers market so I was limited in choice to the varieties he had there. He told me he grew 20-25 different varieties (I did go see his farm) but I told him I wanted a good storage variety and from his comments and my research Music seemed to be the one to buy so I pretty much ignored all others. I got some of the other 2 just out of curiosity. The softneck grocery store cloves I planted were huge but the plants did poorly and produced small bulbs about 1-1.25". They did start to change to hardneck, while they did not produce scapes they produced bubils about 3-4" above the ground in the stalk. Also at the top of the bulb there was a central core like a stalk that you'd get in hardnecks, this is why I say they were turning to hardneck, I've read that happens up north with softnecks.

    Your bulbs are really good sized, I doubt I have any above 3 1/2" tho some may be close. Why do you mention Siberian? There's a lot of varieties so in my 1st real year of growing garlic (I grew it for 2 seasons about 10 years ago at my other house) I did not want to grow 10 different varieties most of which would store just 4-5 months at the most. Hardnecks don't keep as long as softnecks and Music seems to be the longest storage variety from what I read. I want to grow and store enough garlic so that like onions I'm finishing the last garlic as the next years crop is just finishing.

    So tell me about Siberian. Did you buy it locally or thru a seed company? The local organic farmer was selling his garlic for a mere $4 a pound where seed companies charge from $12 to $20 a pound.

    If I do drop potatoes, and I'm sure I will in favor of more garlic, I'd try some other hardnecks and just use them 1st before they get too old.

    Tom

  • korney19
    16 years ago

    Tom, Martin sent me Music, Martin's, Siberian & Simonetti. I traded I think about 7 varieties of heirloom tomato seeds with an ebayer around Pittsburgh for 7 heads of garlic--Georgia Crystal, German Extra Hardy(2), Inchelium Red, Italian Purple, and Spanish Roja(2.) I think he was selling your choice of 3 heads for $3.25 plus $2.50 shipping regardless of how many heads you buy.

    I haven't tried any yet, other than roasting a couple heads, which makes it almost like a buttery paste you squeeze out of the heads. I smeared it inside a beef tenderloin I made on the grille. It has a very different taste roasted, very mild. Haven't tried any of the varieties raw yet.

    I posted more pics and info in Teri's thread on the veggie forum, linked below.

    Mark

    Here is a link that might be useful: Zone 6 - it's almost garlic time ! thread

  • TJG911
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    i have baked garlic bulbs in the oven, softnecks from the grocery store, several years ago. i cut off the tops and drizzled olive oil on them.

    you are right about a buttery paste and they get sweet but really are very different tasting. i wasn't all that fond of them but they were good.

    i'll check if mark (the organic farmer) has siberian and talk to him about it. if he has them i'll taste them and buy say 1-3 pounds and try them.

    tom

Sponsored