Oh what a difference five months make...
 |
| Raised bed |
...above is the raised bed after planting all the bulbs and smoothing out the soil in early November. All that work and it looked no different than when started...
 |
| Raised bed garlic sprouting |
...but just a few weeks after planting, they were already poking their little green sprouts out of the soil so we could finally see some progress...
 |
| Garlic and shallots in raised bed |
...and here they are this past weekend! They haven't been in the soil for six months yet, but I think they are getting close to being ready. I need to read up on garlic and shallots so I know what to look for and when.
These will 'technically' be the first things we've harvested from the garden at the farm. Man cannot live by garlic and shallots alone...but it's a good start, ha.
make sure you wait for the garlic scapes to appear and harvest them before picking the garlic. make some scape omelets. they are so good!
ReplyDeleteCool, thanks!!
Deleteditto on what jaz says above. Scapes will appear several months before harvesting (late spring for me). You want the garlic heads to get big so it isn't until they start browning that you pull them, lay them to dry, etc. Yes, read up on it.
ReplyDeleteGreat, I will look for that. They haven't started browning yet but I will keep an eye on that. Thank you!
DeleteI thought you only got scapes with hard-neck varieties of garlic. For the soft-neck ones, you have to wait for them to 'fall over' like onions before they're ready to pick. Yes, sounds like reading up on it is a very good idea. I only tried garlic once in container when I still lived somewhere with a garden and it was a miserable failure. Definitely something I want to grow lots of when I have my own space to do so again. Last year I found the perfect substitute until then though and when I was visiting my sister in France at the end of summer went to her local organic farmer and bought myself 15 heads - I've tried to be sparing but I'm down to the last couple now. But there's wild garlic to keep me occupied for a while now. Must plan another trip to my sister, too.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I don't remember which varieties I planted. Dang it. I think I have the names written down somewhere, I didn't post it on the blog when I planted them, that's my fault. I'm better now with the veggie varieties I just got in the ground. This is a first for us so we'll see. Oh, the wild garlic, I saw the singing gardener blogging about that, I wish we had that here! :-)
DeleteHarvest times depends on whether you've planted hard neck or soft neck garlic. Hard necked garlic (better for colder climes like mine) is the type that grows the scapes and they are ready when what will be the flower bud grows in a curly que. For soft neck I'm not sure...that's the one that you can braid when you harvest but I'm not finding exactly when on the 'net. I really need to go take a picture of my snow covered bed to show you.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to look back and figure out which I bought. I think these might be soft neck. I wish I had the ones with scales, I've always wanted to try those. Snow covered? Hope your Spring comes soon!!
DeleteThat's a GREAT start, and so gratifying! Hope to be reading regularly again now that our move is "sort of" done.
ReplyDeleteThank you and side note, love your new house and yard. Can't wait to see what you get to do with it!!
DeleteI have grown both types, hard and soft. Soft garlic lie down when they are ready. With the hard variety, I break the scapes off so that more energy goes into bulking up the bulb. These you can cook with or add to salads though I have not done so. I tell when the hard neck garlic is ready when 3 to 4 bottom leaves have completely died and withered. If in doubt, gently pull back the soil and have a peek. I have braided hard neck garlic before, I just let them dry then after about 5-6 weeks wrestle them into braids, LOL, it's not that hard really.
ReplyDeleteWell, that will be easy to see, if they lie down. I want to have scales sometime. I'll give them a peak in a couple of weeks and see what they seem like. I just hope they are big underground. I have visions of pulling them up and having just a tiny bulb, ha.
DeleteLook at em go!
ReplyDeleteGo go and keep going, I hope!!
Delete1st Man,
ReplyDeleteGrowing like crazy, you'll have a beautiful harvest.l
I don't grow garlic, but I do grow shallots. My shallots form a mat of bulbs and I just go out to the garden and harvest when needed. I planted about 20 shallot bulbs 5 years ago and there are now 20 patches of really nice shallots...I just leave them alone and they do their thing.
ReplyDeleteLooks great! I've never tried shallots. It makes sense that they would have the same kind of life cycle that garlic has.
ReplyDelete