Fall Garlic

[flowerbug]

another problem to consider is that while soil organic matter is often good for garden plants you should not need a huge amount for growing garlic. as long as there is enough drainage i've grown garlic in mostly clay and it does ok - with some mixed in organic matter it will do better, but in almost complete organic matter it may not do as well as it could.

in the place where you'll be putting some garlic for next year in the fall, mix in some organic matter before planting, but not more than 5-10% by volume.

 

[ducks4you]

Here is an interesting video from Wisconsin, starting with growing a very large FIELD of garlic.

Around The Farm Table - Garlic: The Stinking Rose - Twin Cities PBS

Inga prepares a fall harvest meal for farmer friends who helped plant garlic.

www.tpt.org

 

[Manda_Rae]

A few of the little bulbils I tester planted started to grow so I will definitely be planting a bunch in the fall once we get the front bed finished. I will definitely plant Later in the fall this time. Do I dig them up in the spring and replant in fall or just let them keep going in ground until fully mature?

 

[ducks4you]

Everybody plants in the Fall for big garlic. I have tried growing grocery store garlic, and, like grocery store potatoes they Will grow.
You will want to plant your garlic in Mid October to harvest the next July.
A lot of internet advice on planting such things is easily available and correct, just fyi.

Growing Garlic (Lackawanna County Master Gardener Program)

Garlic is planted in the fall but local farmers’ markets are starting to open now and that is a great place to purchase the garlic you will plant in October.

extension.psu.edu

 

[Zeedman]

Yesterday I finished digging the last of the garlic DW & I planted last Fall, and today hung it in the pole building to dry. Overall, given that it was never irrigated & the only care it received was being weeded once, it didn't turn out badly. The sub-type follows the variety name ("MPS" = Marbled Purple Stripe sub-type).


Dubna Standard (MPS, left) and German White (Porcelain, right)


Estonian Red (MPS, left) and Carpati (Artichoke, right)


Vic's (Rocambole, left) and Krasnodar Red (MPS, right). Someone dug a few garlic bulbs from the bed, which is OK... but unfortunately, they dug Krasnodar Red, which I only had one bulb to start with & really wanted to multiply. It is one of my largest garlics, and can be as large as Elephant Garlic in a good year.


Ron's Single Center (Artichoke, left) and Special Idaho (Rocambole, right). These are consistently my largest & most productive of the garlic varieties I grow. Special Idaho doesn't store well, but it develops large bulbs even if the scape is not removed.

This was the total harvest, minus Georgian Fire (Porcelain) which was already hung elsewhere:

After setting aside planting stock, the majority of this will be traded or shared with family & friends. I intend to maintain 2 varieties of each sub-type, so Dubna Standard (the 3rd MPS) will probably be dropped, to make room for Japanese (Asiatic sub-type). I'll enlist a few people for intensive taste testing though, before dropping it.

 

[ducks4you]

What a Lovely Harvest!!!
Next year, for me.

 

[ducks4you]

I Guess this is our Garlic Thread here????
Regardless, I am a constant learner. Since I just bought 10 garlic bulbs yesterday for September planting, I started research. @Zeedman , suggested that I bought Artichoke Garlic, so I looked it up:

Artichoke Garlic Seed Bulbs

Artichoke garlic seed bulbs for sale and available to ship across Canada. A very popular softneck garlic that is productive and can be braided.

garlicseed.ca

Apparantly it stores for a long time, at least long enough for me to use some and plant the rest.

The Ultimate Guide to Harvesting, Curing, and Storing Garlic

You waited seven, maybe nine months, for all that homegrown garlic to finish growing. Now that you've dug it all up, you want to savor it for as long as possible until the next garlic crop is ready. This is when curing becomes your friend. Curing is the process of letting your garlic dry down

www.gardenbetty.com

IF I bought softneck I will enjoy braiding them next year and hanging in my kitchen. We have a serious vampire problem in my neighborhood.
Sad to read that John Boy Farms (Manitoba) lost All of their Aritchoke garlic this year.
NOBODY wants to hear about crop failure.
I did have a meager Italian garlic harvest this year. The bulbs that I bought last year were beautiful with a reddish cast on them. The bulbs I harvested were small, and I must believe that the location, east side of the house, didn't get enough sun.
Live and learn.
Even though small, I did save a few bulbs and will plant Them next month, too.

 

[Zeedman]

Sad to read that John Boy Farms (Manitoba) lost All of their Aritchoke garlic this year.
NOBODY wants to hear about crop failure.

Artichoke-type garlic varieties can be "iffy" in the colder Northern climates. No problem with winter kill here, but waterlogged soil will kill or severely stunt them... to the point where they might only form a "round" (bulb with single clove). They will often form fairly large stem cloves too when under stress.

 

[ducks4you]

@Zeedman , good to know!
Then, it makes sense for me to search for some other local garlic, too. There is a Wednesday late PM farmer's market 20 minutes NE of me, and I intend to go there next week to see what they have.
I also have an order for duck eggs to buy there, to make DD's happy.

 

[Zeedman]

The weather has been unseasonably warm, and the garden finally dried out enough to plant the garlic for 2022/2023. All of the varieties I grew previously but one; I dropped the MPS "Dubna Standard" because 2 other MPS varieties ("Estonian Red" & "Krasnodar Red") outperform it, and I only want to grow 2 of each sub-type. I decided to focus on getting more of the remaining 8 varieties (20 each) so didn't add an Asian variety this year. The weights listed are just prior to planting, and do not reflect all of the bulbs given away. The photos below are of what was left, after all of the best cloves were used for planting, so they greatly understate the true potential.

Artichoke (soft neck) Braidable, good storage, 10 or more cloves per bulb, very productive. Can be "iffy" below hardiness Zone 5, especially in areas with wet Springs, and/or poorly-drained soils. Does really well here in raised beds heavily mulched over Winter. May be more weed tolerant than hard neck varieties.

• "Carpati" - Large bulbs, with very few small internal cloves. More pungent than "Ron's". Tops fall over like onions when ready, so no guessing when to dig.
• "Ron's Single Center" (a.k.a. Trueheart) - VERY large bulbs, and uniformly large cloves. Unlike most Artichoke garlics, has almost no small inner cloves. Consistently one of my top 2 producers, since I only need to set aside about 10% for planting.

Marbled Purple Stripe (hard neck) Good winter hardiness, large bulbs with 5-7 cloves or more of varying size. Bulb size can vary widely depending upon culture & conditions, but potentially HUGE bulbs if fertilized & well cared for. Cloves are relatively easy to peel. Scapes form pea-sized bulbils if let go. Moderately good keepers.

• "Estonian Red" - HUGE bulbs if fertilized & given TLC.
• Krasnodar Red - Supposedly smaller than Estonian, but grew larger - almost as large as Elephant Garlic - in my previous collection (which perished). Still trying to increase my numbers, from the single bulb I was given in 2021.

Porcelain (hard neck) Very good winter hardiness, 4-7 large to VERY large cloves with tight skins. Good keepers as a rule.

• "Georgian Fire" - Not the largest bulbs, but large, fat cloves, and very consistent production from year to year. Looser clove skins that German White. Excellent flavor.
• "German White" - Consistently large bulbs, and some of the largest cloves I've grown. Very tight clove skins.

Rocambole (hard neck) Very good winter hardiness. Clove size & numbers highly variable, 5-10, with double- or triple-cloves within a single skin commonplace. The loose clove skins begin to detach within a few months... so easy to peel, but poor storage. Some of the best-flavored garlics. The scapes will form very large bulbils if let go, sometimes almost marble sized (you can see some of those in Special Idaho).

• "Special Idaho" - One of my 2 largest bulbs, year after year, and one of the largest Rocambole varieties. Hugely productive, with many large double & triple cloves; but most of the loose clove skins have at least partially detached by planting time. Good flavor, and an excellent choice to dehydrate for garlic powder. Unusual in that it will still form large bulbs even if the scapes are left on, so a good variety to grow with minimal care. It can be a challenge to find large cloves with good skins for planting, but I've found that even naked cloves will succeed, if the soil is well drained, and a thick layer of mulch is used for protection.
• Vic's - Slightly smaller bulbs, but better clove skins. Very consistent bulb size.

It was too windy to lay mulch, it would have blown away as fast as I put it down. But the wind brought thunderstorms in over night, so the planting is now well watered.