Last fall, I planted two beds of garlic.
I mulched them, then later cloched the beds against deer. I trimmed the scapes at the proper time. Now it was time to harvest.
As with last year's harvest, the cloves were large but the heads were small when compared to the garlic I grew in our last place. Different variety. I wish I remembered what my earlier variety was, but that information is lost in the mists of time.
Still, I can't complain. It grew abundantly.
It took just a few minutes to pull all the plants.
I gathered them all in a tub.
A day or two later, I trimmed the stems from the heads.
A decent harvest, considering we're still ramping things up.
A little short of nine and a half pounds.
I took all the stems...
...and put them in the burn pit to burn later on.
In about six weeks, I'll plant the garlic again. This time I'll plant four beds, which should give us enough garlic for our yearly needs. While normally I mince and can the garlic, after pulling aside the cloves needed for replanting I probably won't have enough to bother canning. Instead I'll keep it in a cool dark place for fresh eating throughout the winter.
Just wondering, why do you burn the stems rather than compost them?
ReplyDeleteMostly because we have more compost than we know what to do with.
Delete- Patrice
When I read your now older post I thought you had mentioned something about a Russian breed, I found Russian Red garlic. But to make sure I went back to your older post and it was a German porcelain-neck garlic. In your article you showed how large the bulbs got. So maybe this is the one you are looking for. Now I have to go and start the trimming of my bulbs.
ReplyDeleteWe plant Spanish Rojas and the only time it didn't grow right other than voles is when we planted it and had a freeze a few days later. So we just planted some we had in the pantry and did not get a lot that year. Hubby saves the seeds in the scapes since he leaves a few scapes on to know when to turn off the water to them. When the scapes go straight it is time to harvest, so he turns off the water and pulls them about 4-7 days later. The seeds give him a solid bulb which he replants and the following year it is a smaller bulb with cloves than those where we just planted cloves but it is also keeping our supply fresh and we have extra seeds if we ever need to use them if we have a problem year. This year we used 100 gallon grow bags after putting hardware cloth covered with 2 layers of weed barrier on top, then the bags. Low and behold, no vole or gophers this year in the garlic. Turnips are another story though.
ReplyDeleteWe plant Spanish Rojas and the only time it didn't grow right other than voles is when we planted it and had a freeze a few days later. So we just planted some we had in the pantry and did not get a lot that year. Hubby saves the seeds in the scapes since he leaves a few scapes on to know when to turn off the water to them. When the scapes go straight it is time to harvest, so he turns off the water and pulls them about 4-7 days later. The seeds give him a solid bulb which he replants and the following year it is a smaller bulb with cloves than those where we just planted cloves but it is also keeping our supply fresh and we have extra seeds if we ever need to use them if we have a problem year. This year we used 100 gallon grow bags after putting hardware cloth covered with 2 layers of weed barrier on top, then the bags. Low and behold, no vole or gophers this year in the garlic. Turnips are another story though.
ReplyDeleteWe take a pint jar, garlic and cover with honey. good for what ails you !
ReplyDeleteWe plant about 200 cloves of garlic each year which is more than we need & we share w/ family & friends.
ReplyDeleteDebbie in MA
Our rabbits absolutely love the garlic stems. I wonder if your cattle would enjoy them too.
ReplyDelete