Garlic for 2024, one new variety this year

[taxlady]

Doesn't dropping the garlic cloves into hot water inactivate the enzymes that convert alliin into allicin?

 

[blissful]

Doesn't dropping the garlic cloves into hot water inactivate the enzymes that convert alliin into allicin?

This chart will give you the idea. https://www.researchgate.net/figure...erent-blanching-treatments-70C_fig4_330966821

 

[taxlady]

This chart will give you the idea. https://www.researchgate.net/figure...erent-blanching-treatments-70C_fig4_330966821

That's very nifty. Thanks for the link.

 

[larry_stewart]

This chart will give you the idea. https://www.researchgate.net/figure...erent-blanching-treatments-70C_fig4_330966821

The fact that there is a chart on this is great !
I would love to have had a career in garlic research.

 

[pepperhead212]

I spent this evening separating a bunch of garlic for planting the next two days! For anyone that thinks there aren't different kinds of garlic, here's proof!

I have that Music and Bogatyr that I ordered the pound each of seed garlic for. Only two cloves with bad spots, and 5 too small to plant, so I have 48 - exactly enough to fill 2 rows.
Music, 48 cloves from a pound. Large cloves, largest 12.4 grams by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Leftover Music cloves. Just 2 larger ones with bad spots, and 5 thin cloves, I won't plant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Bogatyr is a little smaller, but still larger than most softnecks. They were very uniform, with very few small cloves, and only one with a bad spot, and just that one very small head (and I got more than a pound with both). And the skin was incredibly tight to all the cloves, so I assume it will be a good one for storage, like Metechi.
Bogatyr heads, before separation, similar to Metechi, which I'm growing in place of. fairly uniform, and I got 76 cloves in the pound. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bogatyr, only one with a bad spot, and 3 too small to plant. And I didn't even separate that small head! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The Estonian Reds are 10 heads I labeled last season, when I had harvested everything, and these were the largest; I also labeled 9 of the largest Georgian Fire heads - not quite as large, but close to it. One of the ER heads had just those two largest cloves, and one head had just 3! Yet, these things have even more potent flavor than most garlic, the Georgian Fire even more so! Not mild, like elephant garlic.
Just 10 heads of Estonian Red, 27.8 oz. Largest heads I've ever grown. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Estonian Red garlic, 44 cloves separated, 18.9 oz. Those 2 largest were 23.2 g, and 21.8 g. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Georgian Fire, 9 heads, almost as large as Estonian Red. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

41 cloves of Georgian Fire, 15.5 oz. Not one bad or small clove, in these, or the Estonian Reds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I'll have a few empty spots out there, and I will probably fill it in with some Metchi from last season.

 

[blissful]

@pepperhead212 your Estonian Red are gorgeous. The weight averages out at 2.78 ounces/bulb.
My best of my Russian Reds are 8 bulbs per pound, or just at best 2 ounces/bulb. My average is more like 10 or 12 bulbs per pound. They are a hardneck variety and average 3-4 cloves mostly. And this is a good year with aged horse manure compost and good growing conditions. (history, we used to sell garlic, growing 8 types, mostly but not all hardneck, but we settled on this Russian Red variety once we decided to grow mostly for ourselves)

I saw an interesting video on growing different garlics as an experiment, 8/10 were softneck, and 2 hardneck. I prefer the hardneck. I liked that he had the ability to grow it in a tunnel, I can't expect to do that. His yields were 100 grams/bulb or 3.5 ounces/bulb. That is a crazy big garlic. I noticed he let some of them grow well beyond when they should be harvested-where the outer wrapper had already fallen apart. I admire that tenacity at trying to get the best yield in his garlic.

 

[pepperhead212]

I finished the garlic today! As usual, I soaked it with a 50% isopropyl alcohol solution, starting the first batch - the Georgian Fire - and pouring it onto the next container, and soaking that, while planting the first batch. By the time I get to the last, there is about a quarter of the alcohol left, though still enough to coat everything, and sterilize it.

When I planted today, I found only one more double clove than I had before, so I ended up with 45 Estonian Reds, with 3 Metechis - plus 7 more Methechis, in addition to the 41 Georgian Fires. I had 2 extra Metechis, and I just shoved them in the other bed at the end. 48 Musics, and 72 Bogatyrs filled the 2 and 3 rows exactly.
Here's the first row of fabric, with the row of Garlic directly down the center of the bed, showing the placement string. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished bed of garlic, before putting on a layer of ground up leaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Do you secure those fabric strips ?

 

[pepperhead212]

I put a staple in each end of the strips, and after taking that nylon string, I use for placement of the garlic (I marked it with marks 5" apart), and pulling it taught, I sort of use that to straighten up the strip, and put a staple in the center. And I put the holes for the staples in the strips before laying them, as the fabric is sort of hard to poke the holes in!

Today I covered the bed with some leaves, I still had left from last fall. I didn't want those strips to blow loose, given that lousy weather coming in.
Garlic bed, covered with some leaves from last year, 10-13 by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

Looking good! Im actually going to be away this weekend, so I'll probably get mar garlic in sometime next week or weekend . Usually I use shredded leaves or straw as a mulch. I may try fabric this year. depends how lazy I am.

 

[larry_stewart]

Not sure about all you other garlic growers out there, and I hate to jinx it, but my garlic is looking pretty healthy at this point and growing fast. They seem to have hit their 1 foot height mark a week or two earlier these past few years than years in the recent past. I primarily grow German White, and always plant them about the same time in October. I keep track of when they hit the 6 inch and 1 foot mark for fertilization purposes.

 

[Marlingardener]

Like Larry's, our garlic is growing like a weed! We usually harvest in June, but it may be early harvest this season.
I love reading about the different types of garlic you all plant, but I just get plain old hardneck garlic bulbs from the grocery.

 

[larry_stewart]

I used to grow many varieties. I then attended an 'Open Farm 'Day' up in Connecticut. One of the farms was a garlic farm. The framer was on hand answering questions, and I chewed the poor guys ear off. He exclusively uses the German White (A hard neck variety). He's only located about 20 - 30 miles north of me, so basically the same climate. I figured , he's a pro and we face similar climate conditions, so makes sense to me to follow his lead. I still experiment with new varieties here and there. In the past Ive had success with " Music" and " Montana"

 

[blissful]

Ours is about a foot tall now, looking good. They are early, they started up almost a month early based on my posts from last year.
We've grown maybe 10 kinds of garlic all told including grocery store softneck, mostly going back to 18 years ago?? (15 or 20? Mostly hardneck types. The one we grow and like best is Russian Red. It has only 3-5 cloves but they are very big, so cleaning and chopping is more productive with just 1 clove. We use about 1/4th of our harvest as seed for the next year. I have a few dozen cloves left on the vegetable tray (tomatoes, garlic, peppers, pears), I should take pictures of when I chop them to show their size.

 

[Kathleen]

I don't have a lot of garlic planted, but am absolutely giddy that it seems to be growing well! I have not had good luck with garlic in the past!

 

[blissful]

I don't have a lot of garlic planted, but am absolutely giddy that it seems to be growing well! I have not had good luck with garlic in the past!

View attachment 69031

It looks good. You can fertilize (if you do that) now with something with nitrogen in it. Garlic is a heavy nitrogen feeder. It likes not having to compete with weeds and yours look weed-free.

 

[Kathleen]

Thanks, Bliss! I've been pretty proactive with weed extractions. The garlic is growing where I had beans last year and I've added coffee grounds, egg shells, bone meal and a bit of compost. I also packed straw around it last fall. Garlic has been such an epic failure for me in the past years, so I am striving to follow all of everyone's advice on here this year!

In the back, I am trying to grow onions along part of the back wall. Traditionally, I have struggled with root plants so am continually hopeful. My favorite gardening tip: "Grow radishes and spring onions as first plants. Nothing grows easier than radishes and green onions." Uh huh....sure.

 

[pepperhead212]

Those garlic today, going crazy! Before it rained a couple weeks ago, I sprinkled some organic fish meal on the rows, and might do it another time soon.
Garlic, on 4-29, the 2 right rows are Music, the next 2 are Estonian Red, which are the largest of all of them. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[bethzaring]

The past few years, I am down to planting one variety, German Extra Hardy which goes by several names such as German White. The cloves are few and very large and pungent. My plants are 18 inches tall right now. Still planning on an early July harvest.

 

[blissful]

These are some garlic cloves I have left from last year sitting in the kitchen.