The Garlic thread

[Magpie]

Tradition here is to plant garlic on the shortest day and lift on the longest day. I've planted it in the poly as usual, and half a bed outside for the first time also. It's been very wet but it seems ok, bed is well-drained. However, we are going from mild weather to frost on Monday, possibly snow. Should I cover what's outside or is it hardy enough do you think?

When harvested I freeze it in glass jars, peeled and cloves separated.
Just wondering what other folks do? and does anyone put it in honey for sore throats?

 

[Cascadian]

My wife just dries them whole outdoors. A couple times she braided half a dozen together and dried them. Most of them were given as gifts. Here in western Oregon it is pretty is pretty humid so I think it would work just about anywhere.

 

[Neb]

Tradition here is to plant garlic on the shortest day and lift on the longest day. I've planted it in the poly as usual, and half a bed outside for the first time also. It's been very wet but it seems ok, bed is well-drained. However, we are going from mild weather to frost on Monday, possibly snow. Should I cover what's outside or is it hardy enough do you think?

When harvested I freeze it in glass jars, peeled and cloves separated.
Just wondering what other folks do? and does anyone put it in honey for sore throats?

I plant mine the end of september and they survive winter just fine. I dry them outside out of the sun then braid them. The Princess hangs the braids in the back basement. She avoids using the largest ones so I can use them for planting

Ben

 

[Wingnut]

Roman legionaries ate garlic before battle... as a blood purifier. It's also reputed to prevent cancer, though I can't back up that claim. I love fresh garlic, and to heck with my "garlic breath"---if a gal can't handle it, she doesn't BELONG in my life, lol.

This thread is a reminder for me to eat more garlic, I've been "slacking off" over the winter... a "garlic press" is handy to have in the kitchen, you can add the juice to cleansing drinks and really have a powerful tool.

Gotta be fresh garlic though, I'm not big on the dried or powdered cr@p... when I make "pot lasagna" or "pot spaghetti sauce" in the near future, I'm gonna dump fresh garlic into the mix, can't go wrong with it as a blood purifier.

Hey, good enough for the Roman Legions, good enough for me, lol...

 

[Buffalo]

We usually plant our garlic the first week in November, but it just didn't happen this year. We are going to try and get some in the ground as early as we can this winter/spring. We grow mainly hardneck varities here, but opted to go for softneck this year, since we were unable to get the hardneck in before the first freeze.

For storing and using, we use mesh bags to store the garlic heads in. My wife likes to keep a jar in the fridge minced up. We will take a bag and break all the cloves apart, then take the skin off, mince them in the food processor and store them in a mason jar. We had a good crop of amish racombole last year, so we actually minced and froze several pounds of it.

 

[Neb]

I plant mine the end of september and they survive winter just fine. I dry them outside out of the sun then braid them. The Princess hangs the braids in the back basement. She avoids using the largest ones so I can use them for planting

Ben

Pictures to go with my previous post.

Ben

 

[Neb]

Video of experiment to test if larger cloves yields larger garlic heads.



Says yes.

Ben

 

[Bacpacker]

Watched that one this week. Ill be paying close attention to that from now on

 

[joel]

we can plant in October, but most seed house will not ship that early.

 

[viking]

I have a 10'X20' patch of elephant garlic that's been taking care of its self for probably over 20 years. I try to cut the flower stems off just when they start to come out, steamed they taste great. This type of garlic tends to be a bit bitter but dehydrated and ground up it makes a very good garlic powder. My favorite garlic is the small purple skinned type but I don't have the best luck growing it, elephant garlic will grow even when a clove is totally dried up and ugly looking.

 

[sonya123]

I have never had any luck planting garlic. I have tried planting different times of the year and nothing grows. Which is weird since I can grow just about anything here. So , no eggplant and no garlic
I would really love to grow elephant garlic. There is a lady at the market that sells it every year and I have tried planting it but no good.

 

[joel]

I have never had any luck planting garlic. I have tried planting different times of the year and nothing grows. Which is weird since I can grow just about anything here. So , no eggplant and no garlic
I would really love to grow elephant garlic. There is a lady at the market that sells it every year and I have tried planting it but no good.

this will grow in cracks in concrete, so it may grow for you.
It is a lawn weed here in S.C., but many people eat it.
https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/allium-vineale/
https://totallywilduk.co.uk/2020/04/29/identify-crows-garlic/
https://www.foragingcoursecompany.co.uk/foraging-guide-crow-garlic

 

[havasu]

Every time I see this thread, I read Garlic Bread!
I must be craving it.

 

[Supervisor42]

Every time I see this thread, I read Garlic Bread!
I must be craving it.

I always thought it was only used to ward off vampires...

Doya think it will work for the IRS?

 

[Neb]

I always thought it was only used to ward off vampires...

Doya think it will work for the IRS?

Have you seen the price of garlic? It will attract them.

Ben

 

[joel]

Have you seen the price of garlic? It will attract them.

Ben

The Home grown Garlic is more potent, goes good with Holy Water.
But it will not stop IRS agents.

 

[Magpie]

I ran out of my frozen garlic, but Lidls here had garlic on sale (every Thursday they have veg/fruit specials at 49c) so I got a net of three bulbs and froze some in small jars. I've enough until my own are ready in a few weeks. In the past I've used them for planting too. Not as big as the organic ones I usually use, but good enough at that price

 

[Neb]

I have been experimenting with growing wild garlic. Last year I grew it from the tiny cloves in a raised bed resulting larger closes. Those were planted last September in two groups. One group were spaced out with about 4" between them. The second group were grouped tightly together.

The first group were the largest wild garlic I have grown.

The second tightly spaced garlic were smaller.

So...

The largest cloves will get planted in September to see if they can grow bigger.

One of the patches of the non-wild garlic was starting to put out scapes. I cut all of them and tried roasting them. We didn't care for them.

Ben

 

[joel]

Ben, did you by the garlic or collect from the wild?

 

[Neb]

Ben, did you by the garlic or collect from the wild?

I found it growing in my yard. Looked it up in a book on plants that grow in Appalachia.

In the wild were it has fight for resources the bulbs are about the size of a dime. They grow in clumps which also keeps them small. I am curious how big they will grow starting from large cloves. I am also motivated to grow garlic that is native to my area.

Ben

 

[LadyLocust]

Roman legionaries ate garlic before battle... as a blood purifier. It's also reputed to prevent cancer, though I can't back up that claim. I love fresh garlic, and to heck with my "garlic breath"---if a gal can't handle it, she doesn't BELONG in my life, lol.

This thread is a reminder for me to eat more garlic, I've been "slacking off" over the winter... a "garlic press" is handy to have in the kitchen, you can add the juice to cleansing drinks and really have a powerful tool.

Gotta be fresh garlic though, I'm not big on the dried or powdered cr@p... when I make "pot lasagna" or "pot spaghetti sauce" in the near future, I'm gonna dump fresh garlic into the mix, can't go wrong with it as a blood purifier.

Hey, good enough for the Roman Legions, good enough for me, lol...

First don't want anyone to have a heart attack or anything, but I am just getting to this thread
Secondly, if you didn't know: parsley is served with many Italian dishes not as a garnish. It is typically served with dishes that have garlic. You eat it at the end of the meal, and it takes bad breath away (neutralizes it).

 

[sonya123]

Has anyone ever made or had black garlic?
I just ordered a black garlic maker for making decent yogurt. It was expensive but with the prices of store yogurt now and that lack of availability a lot of the time it seems like a good investment. It's Japanese and I hope I will be able to figure out how to use it....
( only thing available with any sort of temp control)

 

[Neb]

Has anyone ever made or had black garlic?
I just ordered a black garlic maker for making decent yogurt. It was expensive but with the prices of store yogurt now and that lack of availability a lot of the time it seems like a good investment. It's Japanese and I hope I will be able to figure out how to use it....
( only thing available with any sort of temp control)

Never heard about black garlic.. Never was into yogurt.

Ben

 

[Weedygarden]

Never was into yogurt.

I was almost 50 before I could eat yogurt. Someone served it as part of our Friday morning social with granola. I tried and finally liked it.

 

[joel]

I have heard of Black Garlic.
But I never tried it.

 

[Magus]

I put a crushed bulb and a couple of peppers in lemon juice as seasoning.

Our garlic hardly ever dies back until November or at least the first good frost. what we have is "Elephant garlic" according to the old lady that used to own the place, but I think it's hybridized with something else after 40 years.
darn stuff is POTENT as well.

 

[sonya123]

Never heard about black garlic.. Never was into yogurt.

Ben

We eat large pots of it. My usual dinner is a smoothie with fruit and yogurt
Son eats lots of it too. Good thing we now have a milk goat again.
I cook with it a lot also. It goes into various curries, breads and greek sauce. This is the reason I could never ever be a vegan. I could do without meat ( and have) but no way I am going without dairy

 

[viking]

I have never had any luck planting garlic. I have tried planting different times of the year and nothing grows. Which is weird since I can grow just about anything here. So , no eggplant and no garlic
I would really love to grow elephant garlic. There is a lady at the market that sells it every year and I have tried planting it but no good.

I have grown elephant garlic for over 20 years, to me it is one of the easiest garlic to grow, I've literally thrown out dried out garlic cloves that I never thought would grow and they did. Some of the largest garlic I've grown is from scraps I've thrown over a bank. It takes a few years but even the bublets that form near the bottoms of garlic will produce large plants. Elephant garlic will grow in almost any soil type, the soil that I planted the original garlic in is basically hard pan, I have to use a pick to dig it out, but it thrives. The only thing about elephant garlic that we have found is that it is not as flavorful as other smaller garlic and can often be a bit bitter, on the other hand dehydrated and ground up it makes an excellent garlic powder. When I used to plant elephant garlic it was always in the fall, not long after harvesting the garlic.

 

[freelove]

I tried black garlic at a garlic festival and the nicest thing I can say is "it's not for me."
I love garlic and grow about 100 bulbs. I just don't understand ruining good garlic by rotting it

 

[joel]

I have grown elephant garlic for over 20 years, to me it is one of the easiest garlic to grow, I've literally thrown out dried out garlic cloves that I never thought would grow and they did. Some of the largest garlic I've grown is from scraps I've thrown over a bank. It takes a few years but even the bublets that form near the bottoms of garlic will produce large plants. Elephant garlic will grow in almost any soil type, the soil that I planted the original garlic in is basically hard pan, I have to use a pick to dig it out, but it thrives. The only thing about elephant garlic that we have found is that it is not as flavorful as other smaller garlic and can often be a bit bitter, on the other hand dehydrated and ground up it makes an excellent garlic powder. When I used to plant elephant garlic it was always in the fall, not long after harvesting the garlic.

My bother in Law grow Elephant Garlic that he has had over fifty year from an old home stead in North Carolina mountains. He sales it green to people in Screven county, Ga.
He sale it bulb, stalk & leaf/blades, he sale out every year.
He gave me one hundred bublets & I have grown it for over ten years.
I agree that the Elephant garlic is not as bright/strong or flavorful as true garlic. Even some true garlic is brighter than other true garlic.
Georgian Fire is so bright, it is almost hot.