When we lived in our last home, I spent years cultivating a beautiful German porcelain-neck variety of garlic. I routinely harvested cloves approaching eggs in size.
When we moved here to our current home in December of 2020, I brought several heads to plant in our future garden. For a variety of reasons (late in the season, no where proper to plant them, etc.), the garlic failed to thrive and my original line of garlic died out. Bummer.
The problem was, I couldn't remember what kind of garlic I had originally ordered so long ago. I do know the company was no longer in business. I ordered what I hoped was something similar online from a different company and was disappointed with the results. I mean sure, it was garlic, but it wasn't jumbo garlic, if you know what I mean. Still, last year's harvest was abundant (21 pounds) and I canned up a staggering 28 pints of chopped garlic. I put aside the largest cloves for replanting.... uh, wait a minute....
Jumbo garlic. That's the magic word I was looking for! I should have been looking for jumbo garlic to plant. (NOT elephant garlic. That's too mild for my taste.) So last fall, I ordered and planted one pound of jumbo garlic (which filled half a bed) and planted the remaining bed-and-a-half with the regular garlic I'd been growing.
Last week I harvested the garlic.
There was no question about the results. Eureka! I have my large cloves back!
It was pure joy to dig up these heads and see the size of the cloves.
It didn't take long to harvest both beds.
I ended up with two crates.
I set these near the back porch to cure for a couple of days.
Then I snipped off the stems.
Here's a better size comparison between the "regular" garlic and the jumbo stuff.
Once again, I have cloves approaching an egg in size. Woot!
I don't plan to mince and can this year's crop. I still have plenty of "jarlic" left over from last year. Instead, I'll store this and use it fresh, and probably give away a fair bit to friends and neighbors.
Oh, and just because I want a record of where I ordered this garlic, and what variety, here's photos of the invoice that came with it:
Right now the bowls of garlic are sitting on the kitchen table. Every time I catch a glimpse of those gigantic cloves, I grin.
Silly to be so thrilled over jumbo garlic, ain't it? I always knew I was weird.
I do not think it is odd at all. You had something and then lost it and now you have rediscovered it. Sounds like a win to me!
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that Montana Giant is a Racambole type garlic rather than a Porcelain type.
ReplyDeleteMontana Rojo shows up in this peer-reviewed article https://journals.ashs.org/hort/hort/published/rest/pdf-watermark/v1/journals/jashs/129/4/article-p559.pdf/watermark-pdf/
-ERJ
Many, many years ago, possibly in the food magazine, Saveur, which was my favorite magazine way back, I read an article about all the varieties of garlic. I was stunned by the different tastes that are available. I got excited just reading about garlic, so I can certainly imagine your joy in growing your favorite type. I think I remember you mentioning that Don eats a clove everyday. No wonder he gets so much stuff done.
ReplyDeleteMany, many years ago, possibly in the food magazine, Saveur, which was my favorite magazine way back, I read an article about all the varieties of garlic. I was stunned by the different tastes that are available. I got excited just reading about garlic, so I can certainly imagine your joy in growing your favorite type. I think I remember you mentioning that Don eats a clove everyday. No wonder he gets so much stuff done.
ReplyDeleteI celebrate your joy over garlic! YAY!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting what is turns out to be. I've had no luck growing garlic, and also don't really care for elephant garlic. But all those skinny bulbs last year after much extra effort, discouraged me from bothering this year. It's too expensive to try growing something repeatedly and essentially failing. Cheaper and easier to just buy it by the bag.
ReplyDeleteI'll try once more. This is the wrong time zone for that kind, but maybe it'll work.
Elephant garlic is wimpy. For some reason peeling and chopping garlic annoys me more than any other kitchen task, so I buy the jarred minced kind. I could probably stand the jumbo, though.
DeleteI ordered some from Mad River. Have never grown garlic before but hey! Life is full of adventure!
DeleteDon't plant it until mid-October or so, and be sure to mulch it well for the winter.
Delete- Patrice
Are they certified to ship to Idaho? I've found it hard to get garlic due to import restrictions by the state.
ReplyDeleteI presume so, since they shipped to me.....
Delete- Patrice
My two favorites are Music and Montana. Both have very large cloves - usually only 4 or 5 cloves and are delicious. I got my original starts from Keene Garlic. I also learned from them to soak my garlic for one day in a fertilizer over night before planting. I can attest to the fact that that almost doubles the size and healthy growth of the garlic here in Montana.
ReplyDelete