Muddyfeet,

I agree with the others! That Garlic is not ready for harvest. I can guarantee Moorehaven will say the same thing!

Patience fellow garlic grower. HaHa

Welcome to the forums,Canandianeh! Glad you found your way here. Stay and have fun! And answer Oh2flys questions, and this gang will try our luck at helping you out.

What other forums do you visit? I love this one, but I guess you can tell!

I located the most useful info from MHG on page 10 of this post.

My Questions for MHG...I have let my scapes go to seed and fall, produce to the point I have a 5' x 50' bank of various stages of garlic. I'm all about landscaping with perinnials (sp?)

Did I read something here that it takes 4 years to get a good bulb from the seeds?

Cutting scapes off. An old Italian patient told me to cut the scapes off to get bigger bulbs. Is this true?

I'm not sure of the stiffness of my garlic except for my Elephant garlic. I think my heirloom "French" stuff is soft neck. I also have some garlic given to me by the winner of the Ohio State Garlic Championship. I'm not sure it is hard or soft. It has really big cloves, very few cloves, like 1-2. It that normal? It is a tasty garlic.

quote:

Originally posted by wasrabbity:
My hard neck elephant garlic is blooming now. I ususally pull them when the blossom gets all the way out. I pulled 2-3 last week because I couldn't wait to have fresh garlic.

I can save you from MHG telling you to dig rather than pull your garlic. You can edit your post and he may never know. I think the reasoning not to pull them is damage to the roots and the outer skins. Both affect long term storage.

Sorry to hog this thread but Lisaann I just had a thought that could make you happy cry for months! I was worried you might have a breakdown if this thread ever ended. So, here is what I was thinking, before I forget. Make sequels on a garlic theme. Here are a couple to get things started. How about a list of all the garlic strains we all grow and we share with each other. I would like a change, especially some elephant garlic.We all get to try something new and all we spend is a little cash on postage.
What about setting a longest thread on OG record? Third idea and I will let the rest of the garlicheads add their 2 cents. A harvest follow-up discussion with what we did right and wrong. That alone should carry you over to guess what? That's right, planting time. So, Lisaann, this could be here a while.

........my Phoenix has arisen.......much like my scapes.......

Nice to be back with my fellow GarlicHeads.

Geez, I don't even where to start !! lmao

Dave, you filled my sandels just fine, thanx.

You all look so much bigger on my new screen......
( Bless'd be a wife who say's, " But for $20 more you could have this one....." )

Let's start with Muddy - Remember when I was telling ya'll to count the number of leaves you had ? I want around an average of 60/40 in my field of green/yellowed-brown. From the bottom of the plant up. Keep in mind that your leaves are the skins surrounding the cloves to form the bulb. We want to shoot for retaining enough of them so that the garlic will store until you use it.
So - if you've gone thru the the scaping stage ( if it's a hardneck ) and you only have 6 out of a total of 10 leaves left, and the next set are turning....I'd say you are there. Let your ground dry out as much as possible if you can; less likely to leave sheaths/skins/wrappers in the ground and much more friendly to clean.
If you were growing both soft and hardnecks, you would have seen that softnecks usually mature first.

Please dig your garlic if you can.

I gotta go back and read thru everybody again, ...I'll be back....

Anybody got a good recipe for scapes? It is almost time here. Do I wait for a full curl or whenever I feel like it?

Canadianeh - Welcome to Lisaanne's GarlicHead Club.

Muddy - that's a softneck if I ever saw one.....nice looking too. I counted up to eight or nine leaves still green on most of them yet ( I think ), I'd keep an eye on it, get the ground dried down, you're getting close. You called it Cali. Late White, I'm guessing that the "Late" refers to it being a late maturer in the softneck variety. Keep us posted.....are you ready as far as how you're going to handle the actual harvesting and curing ?

G.Pearl - sorry to hear about your wet weather. Hopefully it all stayed within your bulb swelling stage and you have good drainage. I'd imagine things are looking a little yellow with only 7 days of sun out of 30. You should be getting pretty close to diggin' also. Ain't them scapes great eatin'...?

Dave - I like to go for the curl, tender eatin' and I get max. benefit of uninterrupted natural growth cycle. The straighter it gets, the woodier it gets.
No fav. recipes here....couple eggs, some sweet bell pepper, handfull of mushroom, some cheese, some fried taters on the side...or maybe some hamburger, a Corona, and the grill....

Wasr - the four years refers to the average time needed to grow and replant a garlic from seed up to a marketable size.

It's true that studies indicate that larger bulbs can be achieved by cutting the scapes, thus depriving the plant of part of it's reproductive ability, telling it that it's gonna need it's cloves to replicate, and that larger cloves have a better chance of surviving the winter and produce a garlic in the spring with the best chance of survival. The downside is the same studies show the same bulbs tend to NOT store as long.
But.......keep that in perspective. I grow for market in a larger quanity than most of you that I know about here. The greatest part of my garlics value is in it's shelf life for the retailer. As growers for personal use, you guys don't have that so much to worry about as you'll probably use most of your's before it goes bad. So go for bigger if you are going for the Blue Ribbon, slightly less if you don't wanna throw any out.
A garlic that didn't clove is called a "round" and are a prize if I find a really large one; solid garlic. But large two-clove ( consistantly )garlic is a new one to me. I'll have to do a little research. But if it's tasty...what's normal?

Dave- I like your ideas.....I never thought this thread would end....I just figured we'd just keep going.

quote:

Originally posted by MooreHaven Gardens:
.....are you ready as far as how you're going to handle the actual harvesting and curing ?

We're all ears, MooreHaven! Speaking for myself, I'm a complete newbie on garlic.

Mine is looking green and happy after all that rain. Sun's out today. Finally some BTU's to get things cooking!

What a perfect morning.....time for another cup of coffee and a moment to reflect....

Well, with Lisa's blessing, we'll start the harvest chatter tonite. I'll see if I can sort thru my pictures and get them sent off to Dave to referance to....

My Elephants have started to scape.

Back out I go, there's an Oriole singin' my name...

Hi MHG

Nice to have you back!

I'll be wathching this thread carefully too. This is also new for me, so need all the input as far as harvesting and curing.
And since mine is a softneck, I can try to braid it? Are there benefits to storing it that way, or is it purely decorative?

I'll be patient and leave it a few more weeks!

Oh, another question...softnecks don't get scapes, did I remember that correctly?

Muddy -thank u,nice to be back.... your softnecks don't normally show a scape unless stressed, as in extreme heat, or an extended period lacking moisture. Yes, softnecks are for braiding, like Trix are for kids....lol....decorative ?...as opposed to a nicely glazed ceramic bowl...? I'd say it's a matter more of personal style. I have a four year old braid of my softneck hanging next to a window over my kitchen sink with no other purpose than to remind me of the garlics I have waiting for spring when I'm doing the dishes in the dead of winter. Or you could have a braid hanging over your entryway to invite only goodness into your home. Your call.

It's raining again.

Hey MHG, I heard about an artichoke type garlic. Any experience with them?

Dave - I answered you on the harvest thread.....see ya there.