Garlic 2013/2014

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?UDRDQ 8 September 2013 Preparing Garlic Bed
A garlic bed was prepared for planting garlic. The area is 24 feet by 4,room for about 200 plants, and was utilized for potatoes in 2013.The patch was rototilled, compost added, some urea (nitrogen) to speed up composting of wood chip mulch left over from the 2013 season. The planting rows were marked with 2 by 4′s and will be mulched heavily to retain moisture until planting about 20 October 2013.

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?FBTYS 10 September 2013 Mulching Garlic Bed
A yard of wood chips was picked up from a city park and about 2/3 was placed on the garlic bed. This will accumulate and retain moisture, ready for planting about 20 October 2013.

[FaithHopeLove]

Will you leave the 2x4's in the beds or take them out? I want to plant garlic here but not sure it would do well and what variety would do well here if any.

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by FaithHopeLove

Will you leave the 2x4's in the beds or take them out? I want to plant garlic here but not sure it would do well and what variety would do well here if any.

The 2 by 4's will be removed. I used them because they were available and convenient.

Almost any garlic will do for seed. The bulb should be firm. I got some several years ago, and keep using the offspring year after year. I plant hard-neck but more by accident than design. One is usually limited in variety and takes what is available.

[beatpoet]

Originally Posted by FaithHopeLove

Will you leave the 2x4's in the beds or take them out? I want to plant garlic here but not sure it would do well and what variety would do well here if any.

My understanding is that softneck varieties of Garlic are the best for southern climates.

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by beatpoet

My understanding is that softneck varieties of Garlic are the best for southern climates.

yes from what i remember hardnecks don't do well in climates without a deep freezing winter. creole is a variety that does well in the south but not up north. i'm out of my knowledge zone talking about the south but i do remember seeing that at a texas garlic site. check this place out for info on the south.

http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/

tom

[tlintx]

I found Southern Exposure Seed Exchange very useful when I was looking at garlic recently.

I wonder if you could just buy a head or two at the grocery and plant them?


Tl

[Durgan]

Originally Posted by tlintx

I found Southern Exposure Seed Exchange very useful when I was looking at garlic recently.

I wonder if you could just buy a head or two at the grocery and plant them?


Tl

Any garlic will grow if not in poor condition. Almost all supermarket garlic is pristine. There is much BS written about garlic. It is amongst the easiest produce to grow.

[tlintx]

Hehehehe, I knew that the garlic from the grocery store will at least sprout (and grow nice long stems) just fine. I've done this many times, just never on purpose!

I was mostly wondering if the stuff I buy at the grocery is suitable for my climate or not. I may order some specialty garlic from SESE, and supplement with some from the grocery.

Garlic has gotten pretty pricey around here - 80 cents a head, and not a very nice looking one at that. Would be very worth it to grow, since I use a lot!

[FaithHopeLove]

Thanks to all, I will be ordering some creole garlic and see how it does here. Since FL and TX are similar I'll report back.

[Farmette]

I grow hardneck and softneck in my garden. There are many websites that give good information about the differences in varieties. I believe softneck stores longer, but I like to grow hardneck too because the size of the cloves are usually larger. I have also had good success growing Creole garlic and I live in zone 4.

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by tlintx

I was mostly wondering if the stuff I buy at the grocery is suitable for my climate or not. I may order some specialty garlic from SESE, and supplement with some from the grocery.

i don't know and neither do you cuz you don't know where it is from. most garlic has been grown in california and is softneck but i've read that for years chinese garlic is replacing it due to lower cost. i would not eat chinese garlic because you have no idea what they used for fertilizer or how it was grown. they use sewage in their fields and there can be a lot of industrial toxins and heavy metals in it besides sewage is not animal manure. if the garlic is hardneck i doubt it is local and even if softneck maybe not. a small store may buy from a local producer whereas a large chain probably does not.

i'm surprised to read creole grows well in wi i thought it did not do well up north.

if you buy it one time you will be able to plant from your own next season, just buy enough to eat and plant.

tom

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by tjg911

i don't know and neither do you cuz you don't know where it is from. most garlic has been grown in california and is softneck but i've read that for years chinese garlic is replacing it due to lower cost. i would not eat chinese garlic because you have no idea what they used for fertilizer or how it was grown. they use sewage in their fields and there can be a lot of industrial toxins and heavy metals in it besides sewage is not animal manure. if the garlic is hardneck i doubt it is local and even if softneck maybe not. a small store may buy from a local producer whereas a large chain probably does not.

i'm surprised to read creole grows well in wi i thought it did not do well up north.

if you buy it one time you will be able to plant from your own next season, just buy enough to eat and plant.

tom

This is why I haven't bought any garlic, aside from seed stock, in about four years. The quality of what they sell around here is horrible, and the soft neck garlic I used to buy didn't store anywhere near as long as my own hard necks do, so who knows how old it is or what conditions it's been subjected to! If you have the room, I think garlic is one of the easier crops you can grow. And like Tom says, if you buy seed stock one time and can grow enough to eat and plant, you won't have to buy it again unless you have a crop failure for some reason. For example, there are two of us and we use about a head or two of garlic a week, so I plant about 140 cloves each year. I'll set aside about 30-40 of the best heads for planting, and this leaves us with more eating garlic than we need. While the quality does go down and you will loose some the longer it's stored, I am still using up the last few heads of Music from last year.

[henry]

Large scale garlic growers store garlic at near 32 F once it is in your local grocery store and warmed up it is likely to sprout so storage life once warm is short.

[Durgan]

My hard neck stores for about 7 months in my cold room in the basement. The temperature is not as cool as I would like but acceptable. The garlic is cured perfectly and picked at the right time to encourage bulb sealing. At the end of the storage time, the bulb is soft and often with green spouts just starting.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ADLKS 30 August 2009 Cold Room Construction

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZBIDP 1 September 2009 Cold Room Organized