The Garlic is Taking Off-- It Must Almost Be Spring!

[digitS']

Usually, I am just eating cucumber chips. Not even a sprinkle of salt, Mrs Dash, or vinegar.

I can also eat a big American slicer, peeled of course, in less than a 30 minute drive behind the steering wheel .

Steve

 

[SPedigrees]

Last fall I bought four garlic braids from a lady who runs an organic sustainable farm to my north. I kept one and gave the others as Christmas gifts.

I have always frozen garlic (in zip-lock baggies), either as whole cloves or finely sliced, and find it has about a year shelf life. But last fall I pickled all the cloves from this one garlic braid, and I expect these may outlast my frozen garlic from years past.

I also pickle sliced onions and peppers too (by the refrigerator method which only involves heating the brine to a boiling point and then pouring it over the vegetables already arranged in a jar, letting them cool and then placing the jar in the fridge). I find this the perfect way to always have crunchy sliced onions at the ready for sandwiches, salads, whatever, and even adding fresh onion slices to an emptied jar of pickled onions, without any reheating, will preserve these new slices for weeks. Vinegar is an amazing preservative!

 

[flowerbug]

if you take the extra garlic which may be starting to sprout and you're worried about it going bad you can grind that up and drench it with any acidifier (vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, etc.) and then pack that in small jars and freeze it. that has lasted several years in the freezer. we usually have lemon juice on hand so that is what i've normally used. works well with any recipe we've tried.

today i got the garlic lifted here and it's looking good. now it needs to cure but i'm trying something different too so we'll see how it goes with this method. never too old to try something different and learn some more.

 

[Branching Out]

What a dramatic difference in how this year's drought-parched-heat-scorched garlic looks as compared to last year's monsoon-rain-for-months-on-end harvest.

 

[Branching Out]

The seed garlic that I planted in my Washington State garden last autumn is all cleaned up now, and it has far exceeded my expectations. Some bulbs grew massive, with Klamath Wild (Rocambole) producing a 5.9oz bulb in its first year. For context, I am not sure that I have EVER grown a bulb of that size--even after years of selecting the best planting stock. Silverwhite did excellent too, as well as Aglio Rosso and three Asian varieties. I think it is both the soil and an underground stream that made the difference.

 

[Branching Out]

The price of everything is going up, and when I visited a farm stand this morning I noted that garlic seems to be no exception at $14.95/lb. Red Russian is likely the most popular garlic to grow in British Columbia, as it does very well here.

 

[Dahlia]

The price of everything is going up, and when I visited a farm stand this morning I noted that garlic seems to be no exception at $14.95/lb. Red Russian is likely the most popular garlic to grow in British Columbia, as it does very well here.

Yes prices have been going up dramatically! This past weekend I bought a liter of olive oil that was regularly priced at 49 bucks and on sale for 29! I also was about to buy garlic in bulk, but when I saw the price tag I decided to go without! It was like the equivalent amount of garlic that would fill 1.5 typical spice containers and they wanted almost 20 bucks for it! That was just in a plastic baggy too with no container to go with it!!!

 

[flowerbug]

at those prices it is well worth growing your own if you have the space and light for it.

 

[Zeedman]

Earlier this year, I posted that I had found a way to preserve garlic cloves over winter in good condition. That opened up the possibility of Spring planting. Having observed how differently potato onions grow when planted in Spring vs. Fall, I was very curious to see how garlic behavior might differ.

The test was limited to one artichoke variety, and two hard neck varieties of different types (I'll have to dig to find the specifics). The artichoke variety sprouted, then died. The two hard neck types grew all Summer - but as I had suspected, did not form scapes, growing as if they were soft necks. The plants of one variety even fell over recently like mature onions do, so I dug them up. The results are really interesting:

With the exception of a few small bulges near the roots, the bulb appeared to be a very large "round" - a single clove; so I peeled one to find out.

The groove in the first peeled photo is not a natural part of the bulb, but the cut I made to peel off the still-tender skin. With the exception of one or two undeveloped divisions near the base (which might develop skins in storage) this is one huge, solid clove. Not very useful in terms of multiplication - but think of the culinary possibilities!!! Garlic you could slice like a small onion! The 2nd variety has not fallen over, but I will be digging it up after the frost, and I'm curious to see if the bulb formation will be similar. I will post my observations after those are dug.

 

[heirloomgal]

Earlier this year, I posted that I had found a way to preserve garlic cloves over winter in good condition. That opened up the possibility of Spring planting. Having observed how differently potato onions grow when planted in Spring vs. Fall, I was very curious to see how garlic behavior might differ.

The test was limited to one artichoke variety, and two hard neck varieties of different types (I'll have to dig to find the specifics). The artichoke variety sprouted, then died. The two hard neck types grew all Summer - but as I had suspected, did not form scapes, growing as if they were soft necks. The plants of one variety even fell over recently like mature onions do, so I dug them up. The results are really interesting:
View attachment 61203
With the exception of a few small bulges near the roots, the bulb appeared to be a very large "round" - a single clove; so I peeled one to find out.
View attachment 61204
View attachment 61205

The groove in the first peeled photo is not a natural part of the bulb, but the cut I made to peel off the still-tender skin. With the exception of one or two undeveloped divisions near the base (which might develop skins in storage) this is one huge, solid clove. Not very useful in terms of multiplication - but think of the culinary possibilities!!! Garlic you could slice like a small onion! The 2nd variety has not fallen over, but I will be digging it up after the frost, and I'm curious to see if the bulb formation will be similar. I will post my observations after those are dug.

That's fascinating @Zeedman , it reminds me of a type of garlic @Pulsegleaner once mentioned that grows a single large bulb. Seeing what you've posted here it looks like single large clove garlic is not a distinct species but a growing technique. It's a very practical development!

Here is the wiki pic about 'solo' garlic, looks very much like yours.