garlic types [Food/Vendor]
2014 Aug 20
Are you going to plant it or eat it?
My all round fave is Russian Red - good size bulbs, good flavour, keeps longer than the others I grow ( still using it up to time of first new garlic in July/Aug). It's flavour has improved over the years that I have grown it.
Music has a good rep with many consumers. I've mostly been growing it to replant but this year I've enough to try ad get a better handle on its properties myself. It has good size bulbs and lasts almost as long as the Russian Red. It may be a bit milder but I'll be more confident saying that after trying this years crop which has pretty much cured by now. One thing I note is that Paul Pospisil, esteemed garlic grower, editor of the Garlic News, and longtime garlic researcher, is not a big fan of Music for some reason, though I don't know why, but he seems to have dissed it a few times in the News. One may have had to have been a longer time subscriber than me to know why, or pop the question to him at one of the garlic festivals that he started/attends - he loves to talk garlic!
I also grow Spanish Roja and Georgia Crystal. The Crystal is the earliest maturing garlic I grow, first to grow shoots in the spring, has small bulbs with few cloves (2,3 or 4) but they are large and I find the strong flavoured. The Roja is medium to large bulbs with a good flavour - I like it in my Central American/Spanish cooking but use it elsewhere as well, it's a nice garlic.
All 4 are hardneck types so they have scapes that are tasty to harvest and give away too.
My all round fave is Russian Red - good size bulbs, good flavour, keeps longer than the others I grow ( still using it up to time of first new garlic in July/Aug). It's flavour has improved over the years that I have grown it.
Music has a good rep with many consumers. I've mostly been growing it to replant but this year I've enough to try ad get a better handle on its properties myself. It has good size bulbs and lasts almost as long as the Russian Red. It may be a bit milder but I'll be more confident saying that after trying this years crop which has pretty much cured by now. One thing I note is that Paul Pospisil, esteemed garlic grower, editor of the Garlic News, and longtime garlic researcher, is not a big fan of Music for some reason, though I don't know why, but he seems to have dissed it a few times in the News. One may have had to have been a longer time subscriber than me to know why, or pop the question to him at one of the garlic festivals that he started/attends - he loves to talk garlic!
I also grow Spanish Roja and Georgia Crystal. The Crystal is the earliest maturing garlic I grow, first to grow shoots in the spring, has small bulbs with few cloves (2,3 or 4) but they are large and I find the strong flavoured. The Roja is medium to large bulbs with a good flavour - I like it in my Central American/Spanish cooking but use it elsewhere as well, it's a nice garlic.
All 4 are hardneck types so they have scapes that are tasty to harvest and give away too.
2014 Aug 20
Usually, but not always, one looks at how many leaves are still green on the plant for a clue to when to harvest. 3 to 5 green or partially green leaves generally corresponds to 3 to 5 layers of protection still on the bulb which is what you want in order to store the garlic. That should still be the case with spring-planted garlic. I follow that but always dig up a couple of representative bulbs to check by counting the number of layers covering the bulb, peeling them back one by one.
Good news for you, Tree Pug, is that recent trials have shown that the number of fully developed bulbs with multiple cloves is greater that had long been thought. The usual result was thought to be that spring-planted garlic was more likely to yield large single clove bulbs. I have seen that in my garlic, generally as volunteer plants, ones that arise in the spring in odd locations, maybe from my compost that goes on the garden. I usually move them out of the way and into my herb garden and end up most often with a single fat bulb. They've all been harvested already.
Check yours out!
Good news for you, Tree Pug, is that recent trials have shown that the number of fully developed bulbs with multiple cloves is greater that had long been thought. The usual result was thought to be that spring-planted garlic was more likely to yield large single clove bulbs. I have seen that in my garlic, generally as volunteer plants, ones that arise in the spring in odd locations, maybe from my compost that goes on the garden. I usually move them out of the way and into my herb garden and end up most often with a single fat bulb. They've all been harvested already.
Check yours out!
2014 Sep 28
I wish I knew the answer to the roots but no bulbs issue, Tree Pug. I haven't seen that happen. I can suggest poor growing conditions which covers a wide range of issues from poor soil to too much water to too much fertilizer (this last issue is one I encountered on our farm when I investigated why a hayfield had certain areas that grew considerably better than other areas in the same 4 ha field (I soil-sampled the good and poor growing areas separately). The field was beside a barn and the poor areas had toxic levels of potassium that I speculated had come from many years of piling the manure from the cattle in the field, where it was then spread every fall. Fields farther from the barn didn't seem to have this issue and in fact were all in need of potassium.)
A good free range dog out in the country will take care of the squirrels digging up the garlic, as well as keeping the chipmunks, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, etc at bay. But skunks and porcupines aren't so easily scared off.
A good free range dog out in the country will take care of the squirrels digging up the garlic, as well as keeping the chipmunks, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, etc at bay. But skunks and porcupines aren't so easily scared off.
2014 Sep 29
Stuart it`s to too late and may be a bit early. I plant just after Thanksgiving most years.
i don`t know where to source garlic locally at this time but wonder if there might still be some at local farmers markets - anyone know?
Tree Pug I don't container garden (except for overwintering a few plants from the garden) so I don't have advice on that but think it should be a fairly deep pot as garlic is normally planted 4" to 6" deep in the soil. In the fall I plant then cover with mulch of grass and leaf clippings from the mower. Then I put some tree branches over top to catch and hold the winter snow to help insulate the bulbs.
i don`t know where to source garlic locally at this time but wonder if there might still be some at local farmers markets - anyone know?
Tree Pug I don't container garden (except for overwintering a few plants from the garden) so I don't have advice on that but think it should be a fairly deep pot as garlic is normally planted 4" to 6" deep in the soil. In the fall I plant then cover with mulch of grass and leaf clippings from the mower. Then I put some tree branches over top to catch and hold the winter snow to help insulate the bulbs.
2014 Sep 29
Tree Pug - now that you mention that you were container gardening with garlic, I would suggest that this is perhaps the first factor that may have contributed to your lack of success. Container gardening is a whole other kettle of fish. Not sure what the science is but something about the fact that soil conditions are very different when in the ground than in a pot, i.e., depth is limited in a pot, different temperature conditions, heating and cooling and of course water flow is also different. I was going to say that if you do try this again and plant bulbs in the fall, I would recommend using chili powder on top of the soil, this will deter squirrels from disturbing the bulbs.
2014 Oct 4
Hi all. I am a garlic farmer and I have about 150 pounds of Music and 20 pounds of Russian Red left for purchase. My garlic is certified organic through ECOCERT. If anyone is interested send me a email at breakeven20032003@yahoo.ca
for bulk and retail pricing. It is not too late to plant garlic. It is actually too early. I usually plant garlic after the first heavy frost, usually 3rd to 4th week in October. I hope this helps.
for bulk and retail pricing. It is not too late to plant garlic. It is actually too early. I usually plant garlic after the first heavy frost, usually 3rd to 4th week in October. I hope this helps.
krusty
I am planning to grow some garlic this year and need to place an order soon but really have no idea on what varieties I should try? Any favs, things to consider, etc?
K,