Garlic question

[kazedwards]

Yes it is amazing what some plants will do to stay alive if threatened.

[Al]

That is interesting how the cloves of garlic shrivel successively, leaving some viable cloves for as long as possible. The cloves of 'seed' garlic which I noticed throwing out little roots recently had become detached from the main bulb, I guess they keep much longer in a complete bulb.
Re: Rakkyo I will look out for 'crocusing' in future years, I actually just acquired my Rakkyo bulbs, they are tiny (from a grower in the far north of Scotland) so I doubt they will try to produce a flower this year. I know they are an unusual allium in producing new leaves & flower stems in the Autumn after the dormant period instead of the more usual Spring / Summer flowering. I am actually unsure about whether I will be able to grow Rakkyo to a size worth pickling in Edinburgh, they may need a hotter climate? Perhaps an early start under a growlight & some protection under cloches will be required.

Those interested in matters Allium should try & read;
Onions, Leeks, & Garlic. A handbook for gardeners. By Marian Coonse, a very knowledgeable Texan lady.

[blueadzuki]

As someone who has grown it for a few years, I can say you are probably OK. Assuming I am reading the Zone maps right you are a LOT warmer than me. I'm 6b American so my winters can go down to about -20C; yours don't appear to drop below 0 all that often. I have no problem growing it over the fall (well I used to, the last few years have had winters that were unusually cold and basically killed even cold hardy plants). Though I freely admit mine aren't all that big either. I think it has a lot to do with what kind of bulbs you start with. All of my Rakkyo originally came from bulbs I simply picked up at the local Japanese market. The first batch grew wonderfully. The ones I got the following year (different supplier, different larger strain) did not, they couldn't take the cold. To make it worse, I had almost none of the first ones left, since I had eaten most of them (since I could pick them up by the box, I didn't think I'd NEED to really conserve. What I have left also has gotten a little atypical over the years of planting. The bulbs are a lot shorter than they used to be and wider (they look less like thin shallots and more like garlic cloves in shape). They've also gotten really green (the first year I thought they had just gotten sun touched by being planted to shallow, but they've stayed greener than usual in later years.)
If you are going for size, one thing I can say is keep doing them in the fall. If you plant in spring their clocks will get messed up, and they will basically begin to divide AS SOON as it's warm enough to grow. You wind up with groups of 3-4 bulbs whose combined weight is the same as the one bulb you originally planted (if not less). fine for upping your supply of starts, but not great for size.

[Al]

Thanks Blueadzuki for the Rakkyo info., it's good to know my winters should not kill off plants.
I had even talked to the chefs in my local Chinese take-away in my quest for growing guidance - not much help.

Unfortunately Japanese supermarkets with boxes of seasonal Rakkyo are non-existent in my neck of the woods. But I will look out for different strains to try, & coddle the wee bulbs I have in the hope the they will bulk up over a few seasons. Replanting big bulbs in good soil in the Autumn, maybe trying some in the greenhouse.

[blueadzuki]

For what it's worth this is this years Rakkyo crop (yes, all of it) from my garden (lower right corner)

(if you are unfamiliar with U.S. coins and are having trouble working out sizes, a U.S. quarter is about the same size as a modern 10p piece)

[Al]

Thanks (belated) blueadzuki, for showing your rakkyo crop, & translating U.S. coin size. Your bulbs do look round, small, green, & there ain't many of them. Would it be unkind to describe your harvest as meagre? I have watched lots of Japanese uTube videos about how to pickle rakkyo, after topping & tailing the bulbs generally appear to be an elongated teardrop shape, white in colour & approaching the size of a shallot, certainly bigger them a good sized garlic clove, I imagined something similar to the Eschalote Grise I have just planted (French Grey Shallot). Which is why I was surprised to receive little scraps when I ordered rakkyo bulbs, they were mostly about 40mm (1.5") long & 6mm (1/4") diameter at their fattest, like slightly pregnant grass. There were a lot of them though & maybe they will thrive.

I am sorry this post is getting off subject, perhaps I'll create a new thread once I have some results to report. It would be interesting to compare rakkyo experiences of others.  

[blueadzuki]

No, that would be quite accurate though I should point out that, paltry as this crop is, it's a bumper one compared to a lot of the other years. Though it gone down since the photo (a lot of the smaller bulbs just withered away so I think I'm down to 8 or 9.)

The original material WAS long and teardrop shaped; I have no idea what made it go fat like this Maybe there was a freaky fat one in the original mix I didn't notice and that was the one that survived.