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Post by kazedwards on Jul 14, 2017 23:11:40 GMT -5
Well today I decided to brave the 2' tall grass to check on the garlic. Still trying to decide when I should harvest it and how I'm going dry and store it without making the apartment smell like garlic. It's doing well despite not being weeded. I was happy to see lots of flowers on most of them. Chesnok red had the most by far.   The TGS bulbils didn't do well. They died down a month or so ago. The cloves from the TGS plant the scaped last year are doing well. Not as large a chesnok red but the scapes are at the same stage. The cloves from the TGS plant that did not scape last year is smaller than all of them but is producing scapes. They are just starting to open. All of the other bulbils (German Brown, Spanish Roja, and reed's Hoosier Homestead) that were planted are doing well and all have open scapes. They are bigger than the 3rd year TGS plants. I want to say all have purple flowers, which is a good sign as far as TGS, but they are way less in number. The bulbils on those are much larger and farther along. I as think the scape opened much sooner. I didn't get pictures of any these but wish I did. |
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Post by richardw on Jul 15, 2017 0:36:32 GMT -5
The lovely pink colour of the flowers is something i dont see with the flowers i get, i wonder why?
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Post by kazedwards on Jul 15, 2017 0:49:44 GMT -5
The lovely pink colour of the flowers is something i dont see with the flowers i get, i wonder why? It might be the lighting bc I took the picture at dusk. I will say all of the others are darker purple if I remember right. I will have to look and compare next time I'm out there |
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Post by reed on Jul 15, 2017 3:50:03 GMT -5
I forgot about my Chesnok Red. I didn't harvest it because it still has those fresh pink flowers like in kazedwards pictures. Apparently it is later as flowers on all the rest dried up some time ago. |
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Post by paquebot on Jul 15, 2017 14:07:27 GMT -5
All of the above made an abundance of bulbils but no seeds. Bulbils on the jumbo sized RHH are also jumbo, as big as nickles and very spherical. That makes it a rocambole. No other type makes bulbils that big. Plant those back and it's just like planting a clove. That is, they will produce at least a medium-size divided bulb. Martin |
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Post by kazedwards on Jul 18, 2017 20:18:10 GMT -5
So I got some more pictures today. This is from the cloves of the TGS grown plant that formed a scape last year. The flowers are starting to age and wither from competing with the bulbils  This is from the TGS grown plant that did not form a scape last year. It's timeing is much later  Here is both of them in the small narrow patch that they were in  This should be German Brown but I would have to check my notes. It's at about the same stage as Chesnok Red. I'm happy to see some purple but no where near as many  reed's Hoosier Homestead is doing well. More purple flowers and more of them too.  This one is Spanish Roja. I was very surprised to see as many flowers as they have.  Here's another picture of chesnok red. The umbels are ready to be cut for sure. I have a few with a twisted scape like this.  Also I'm very embarrassed to show the weed. But figured I'd rather share the little I have growing. I will be weeding the garden I put in. This is not normal for me lol. |
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Post by steev on Jul 18, 2017 21:15:57 GMT -5
Good garlic results; those aren't weeds; they're barely ground cover; I can send you some weeds, if you want.
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Post by reed on Jul 18, 2017 21:20:36 GMT -5
Glad the RHH is doing good for you. I'm also pleased to see the weeds, to a great degree that is how I'v traditionally grown garlic and after next year I'll probably be going mostly back to that method. I'm gonna make a nice bed for my biggest bulbils and cloves just out of curiosity about how big they can get but most of the little bulbils are just gonna be tossed around the edges of the woods and up and down the road. I already see scapes with bulbils sticking up here and there in the weeds where I pitched them out the window of the truck last year.
RHH grew basically on it's own for more than twenty years here and I guess 100 or more before I found it. Now I got four new kinds. Once I get wild patches established good I'll be happy. I'll mix up the wild patches in case they ever what to cross and make seeds.
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Post by kazedwards on Jul 30, 2017 22:28:48 GMT -5
I checked my neglected garlic today. I noticed that some of the flowers seem as though they took. I haven't done a darn thing. This week I plant on digging it and saving the heads. Plant on just cutting them and keeping each type separate and planting them so this fall.
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Post by reed on Aug 7, 2017 9:25:46 GMT -5
Here are some of the bigger cloves from my garlic this year. Red Russian didn't keep up and was left behind. Lake Monroe is new, it is the one I found wild near the farm I would love to own but can't afford. It isn't much too look at but considering it was ripped rudely out of the ground back in early June I think it was, I'm very happy with it. Also it has the first rounds I ever saw, I imagine it will do fine next year. The biggest RHH are from wild plants that I thinned and weeded a little. That is a US 1/2 dollar from another time for scale. It's the same size but different composition than modern coins.  |
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Post by philagardener on Aug 7, 2017 17:37:57 GMT -5
Haven't seen a Franklin half in ages! Great looking garlic too!
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Post by reed on Aug 12, 2017 4:07:11 GMT -5
When that big one first broke open it had intense purple color but as it dried some it turned more brown. Does the purple oxidize away? Does flavor change in bigger cloves?. I ask cause I roasted some RHH and it was more mild and sweet that I'm used too. Haven't tried the others yet. I'm thinking I should probably do a side by side comparison.
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Post by kazedwards on Aug 13, 2017 1:55:33 GMT -5
They look great toomanyirons
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Post by reed on Aug 13, 2017 19:57:27 GMT -5
Looks like your GB and SR sized up nicely for one growing season from bulbils, especially considering different climate and soil type than what they are used to. Have you tasted either one of those? I haven't done a side by side taste test and I'm not big on trying to describe flavor. I can say that if you smash and chop half a dozen little German Brown cloves, stir em around in a little warm butter and pour on about a pint of chicken broth, it is really, really good. Normally I would add carrots and celery but wanted the straight garlic flavor. Did I mention it was really really good? |
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Post by olddutch on Sept 9, 2017 10:03:07 GMT -5
Sorry to be late coming in with 2017 results, as I am getting ready to prepare the beds for this fall's planting.
I plant a total of about 100 square feet into alliums, mostly garlic, but also 2 types of mulitplier onions, copra and a small bed of walking onions. Last fall I made the mistake of planting very late, early November here in Minnesota is not good for some of the varieties.
Best Variety is Music hands down, it was about average to a little small.
2nd best is Siberian, also about average to a little small.
Xian essentially a failure, it went down hard very early and tiny, mostly reverted to rounds.
Japanese, mostly bulbed but much smaller than normal.
VietNamese Red, also mostly bulbed but also very small.
Feral (Rocombole?) variable in size, with most undersized.
Elephant garlic is experimental. I have finally gotten some to sprout.
I am replacing the VietNamese Red stock and the Xian with fresh seed stock. Xian will definitely go in as early as possible, also the Japanese, the VietNamese Red, and my feral. Music and Siberian are not so fussy but they will be in by mid October this year, and maybe even earlier time permitting. Xian is on its third strike. It makes next year or gets dropped. Same for Mexican Purple (that is most likely a trade name rather than an actual variety as I understand it.) I got a couple of bulbs of Mexican Purple, (Creole I think) from the grocery store, also experimental
My soil is sandy so it will get a lot of compost and coir plus a topdressing of Milorganite and lime and then a rest of a couple of weeks before I plant. I simply can't do enough compost on my own; so I buy organic compost from Home Depot at $1.75/40 pound bag and the coir comes from the pet shop (also used for reptile bedding); they always have it even if the nurseries and plant dealers can't be depended on. This year I plan to mulch but not until next spring, mostly for moisture preservation.
BTW I eat a lot of garlic, but this is mostly a hobby for me these days. I have a small city lot; so between the flowers and the neighbors trees, and such there is not enough space for me to be self-sufficient or even to can. Some other things I grow for the fun of it are sweet potatoes, daikons, tomatoes, banana peppers, and sometimes fingerling potatoes, and some tulips. They don't all fit every year of course. I expect to cut back my varieties of garlics in the future, too, but am not sure which way I will go with that.
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