My garlic, which I planted a bit late (11/10) has made a showing.
7 Likes
won’t see mine till ’ mid may! under 8ft. snow as we speak! you guys keep me going till then.
5 Likes
I’m 6b/7a in Maryland. I call it 7a, but am beginning to think I’m a 6b microclimate, plus the maps actually show 6b a dozen or so miles to the northwest.
1 Like
Romanian Red, planted in September in Texas. The smaller one is Chesnok red. It lagged behind quite a bit but lately it’s been looking alot better. More erect and less floppy.
3 Likes
I grew Chesnok last year and it was awesome looking and tasting. just beautiful.
1 Like
Seeing how big some of your garlic is, I’m thinking I may have some tiny garlic this year.
grew the romainian red last year. has a very hot garlic taste here. love hot garlic!
made the mistake last year of adding too much N. burnt the greens and stunted them. still got a decent crop tho.
You should be fine. I’ve planted in early Feb. and still gotten pretty good sized bulbs. Just make sure you keep the competing weeds away, a reasonable amount of water and good fertile soil or at least occasional liquid ferts.
4 Likes
I’ve never had hot garlic before to be honest. What can I do with it that I couldn’t with those California varieties you get from the store? I was thinking I could make some hot dill cucumber pickles, but that’s been the extent of my creativity. About how hot does it get? Is it as hot as a jalapeno?
its a different kind of hot. kinda like wasabi. i use it in everything that i put reg. garlic in. just makes it more garlicky! i pickle the cloves and they are fabulous! if you like strong garlic, once you eat hot garlic, you won’t want to go back to more mild types. a few others i want to put in this fall are georgia fire and russian red.
1 Like
That’s why I have Metechi and Georgian Fire going in the garlic bed. Makes the salsa sing!
1 Like
Seems odd to see bare ground when we have deep snow on the garden and orchard.
3 Likes
i met with a woman last fall who had grown numerous varieties of garlic, so much so that she has 7 favorites
her #1 favorite was transylvanian
2 Likes
I checked on my garlic today, of the five varieties I have in the ground only the Nootka Rose is starting to come up.
4 Likes
What are the others? If you know? I planted some Transylvanian for this year. And I must say it’s the biggest softneck I have seen as big as hardnecks. It is supposed to be strong, and the cloves like the bulb were big. Softnecks are nice in that you can braid them and dry very nicely and some last up to a year. I grow a couple that do. I have not bought garlic in 4 years.
Well it’s so easy to grow and rewarding to grow your own. If it was hard to grow i would just buy it. One of the easiest things ever to grow. Plus it’s fun to use it right after harvest so juicy wet and full of aroma. Some are absolutely gorgeous like Chesnok that has neon purple skins. As time goes by and it drys the color fades to dull purple. My garlic loving friends were amazed when I gifted them this beautiful garlic. I have a lot of Italian and Lebanese friends who consume mass quantities of garlic. I also gift them Lebanese and Italian figs which I love to grow too.
7 Likes
thats some beautiful garlic! do you amend specifically for them or just use some compost and call it good? i burnt my romanian red last season by adding too much N so the bulbs weren’t real big but still decent. going to do georgian fire and russian red this fall.
I have a routine but it varies a lot. I grow in raised beds that i filled with garden soil, and peat moss. I add old potting soil and compost when the organic material is used up and the levels go down. Usually in the fall I do this. I throw coffee grounds into them all year. I rotate what I grow in them. I usually add some organic fertilizer like Plant-tone, Holly-Tone. But I have so many plants I’m switching to other stuff. Usually I fertilize once a month with an organic which takes 2 weeks to work, and a soluble which works right away. So they are fertilized a lot. I think small incremental doses are the best. Not sure you need to fertilize garlic much?
This year when AM Leonard offered free shipping I bought a bag of this.
AM Leonard offers other fertilizers too that I will try too. See what works for me. These for shrubs and trees mostly.
The photo was of a hardneck which do grow big. Softnecks which is the only kind you can braid. Are not as big. I like both. hardnecks do not last long so I use fresh until they start degrading and I take the rest and make garlic powder with them. man the powder is wonderful compared to that store bought shit. The softnecks last for a year. I still have 3 braids and they look great! Not all softnecks last long, but in general they are longer lasting so I grow both. Here is a good sized softneck, most of these I save for seed.
Last year’s harvest. Softs on the left, hards on the right. I grew mostly softs as I give away braids.I myself prefer hardneck for taste.
2 Likes
i grow in beds and do the same with potting soil. my mistake i think is i threw a few handful of blood meal in there when i planted last fall and they didn’t need it. the tips started to burn after about 6in. of growth came out. i have branches , twigs and some manure i lined 12in . thick in the bottom of my raised beds like hugelkulture style. helps with the water holding in there. its been in there 5 yrs. so maybe the roots are getting down to the rotting wood now so they don’t need as much nutrients.