dragonlaurel
Improvising a more SS life
My garlic wasn't huge this year but it still tasted really good and gives me an occasional surprise bulb when I weed or start planting other stuff. With the weather we had lately- I'm grateful for it.
Question for garlic growers
- Thread starter Dawn419
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Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
Hey dl! 
Maybe I should change the title to "The Garlic Growers Commiseration Thread"?
What I've dug, so far, although small just screams "I Am Garlic" as far as smell/scent goes. We'll just be glad for what we get and just enjoy every bit of it!
Maybe I should change the title to "The Garlic Growers Commiseration Thread"?
What I've dug, so far, although small just screams "I Am Garlic" as far as smell/scent goes. We'll just be glad for what we get and just enjoy every bit of it!
have u had better crops before? could be the weather u had? hard to tell, ive had years they were nice and big , plant all the big ones that fall and get smaller cloves the next year? and change nothing give it a try this fall see what happens, but yes pull all then they do really crappy if you dontDawn419 said:I've started harvesting my fall '11 planted garlic and am ashamed at the size of my bulbs.
My question is:
Should I continue to harvest the bulbs or would it be feasable to leave them in the ground and amend the soil (on top of the soil) and then harvest them next summer?
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Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
Thanks for your reply, shaner, I appreciate it! 
We had a much better garlic crop/harvest last year with our grocery store garlic growing experiment. My ssi and BIL told us we couldn't grow garlic out here, so of course we just had to try it in hopes of proving them wrong...and we did! The beds that I'd planted that garlic in had been worked better and had alot of compost added to amend the soil and I'm positive that that played a huge part in such nice-sized bulbs. It did so well that we decided to order 3 different varieties from Peaceful Valley to plant last fall.
We ordered 3 pounds of California Late White and one pound each of Georgian Fire and Purple Glazer. Since I'd ordered so much, I had to find somewhere else to plant the cloves, as there was no way I'd ever fit it all in the 2 smaller beds that I'd planted it in the previous year. The soil in the raised bed that I planted them all in hadn't been amended as well as it should have been, I'm pretty sure. I'm also sure that the weather didn't help much, either.
I'm just about finished digging it all up and will be adding as much bunny gold and shredded leaf mulch as I can to the bed before fall planting time. I will also be adding atleast 1 bale of peat moss to the bed with hopes of helping with moisture retention as the soil in that bed is river bottom topsoil which is on the sandy-side, and while it has good drainage, I suspect it may be draining to quickly.
We had a much better garlic crop/harvest last year with our grocery store garlic growing experiment. My ssi and BIL told us we couldn't grow garlic out here, so of course we just had to try it in hopes of proving them wrong...and we did!
The beds that I'd planted that garlic in had been worked better and had alot of compost added to amend the soil and I'm positive that that played a huge part in such nice-sized bulbs. It did so well that we decided to order 3 different varieties from Peaceful Valley to plant last fall.We ordered 3 pounds of California Late White and one pound each of Georgian Fire and Purple Glazer. Since I'd ordered so much, I had to find somewhere else to plant the cloves, as there was no way I'd ever fit it all in the 2 smaller beds that I'd planted it in the previous year. The soil in the raised bed that I planted them all in hadn't been amended as well as it should have been, I'm pretty sure. I'm also sure that the weather didn't help much, either.
I'm just about finished digging it all up and will be adding as much bunny gold and shredded leaf mulch as I can to the bed before fall planting time. I will also be adding atleast 1 bale of peat moss to the bed with hopes of helping with moisture retention as the soil in that bed is river bottom topsoil which is on the sandy-side, and while it has good drainage, I suspect it may be draining to quickly.
garlic must be habit forming , i intruduce a local guy here 4 yrs ago to fresh home grown garlic, he loved the elephant garlic i grew , so i gave him, a small paper lunch bag full to plant himslelf, well hes up to planting 10,000 cloves this year!!!!!!! even sold some to a local produce aution, he really took it serious hahahaha, so fun fun, just keep working on the soil i imagine . we got these old ohio clay to deal with so compost, leaves and manure it our keys
we got these old ohio clay to deal with so compost, leaves and manure it our keysIt can be a real money maker IF you work hard to find customers.If you look at processed garlic in your supermarket you are almost certain to see that it came from Gilroy CA Which held it's garlic festival this past weekend. the thing is that there are lots of different gralics, I like the mild flavor of elephant garlic, but many like a much stronger garlic. And people are usually willing to pay a little extra to get what they really like.
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- #17
Dawn419
Almost Self-Reliant
Hi shaner!
I definately agree that growing garlic is habit forming...I went from a 27 cloves planted as an experiment to a 3 pound leap!
Even though I didn't harvest bulbs the size that I'd hoped for, I'll be planting out all that is worth sowing again this fall and maybe buying more in for planting. Hooked!!!
Hi ~gd!
Hope all is well with you!
I was hoping to make a few bucks off of the California Late White by doing garlic braids and seeing if I could sell a few locally. It didn't work out this year, so we'll just enjoy eating it. I'll just keep working on amending my new beds and they'll get to the point that they need to be...it's the 3rd year working them so I'm almost halfway there (I've read 7 years). If worse comes to worse, I'll try my hand at bartering my garlic for other fruits, veggies, etc... as we landed ourselves (unknowingly at the time we bought the property) in a wonderful community of folks.
I love Elephant Garlic too, and grew some this year and last, but suspect my chickens decimated it after getting into the bed that I'd planted it in. Still need to dig in that bed and check, to be sure one way or the other. :/
I definately agree that growing garlic is habit forming...I went from a 27 cloves planted as an experiment to a 3 pound leap!
Even though I didn't harvest bulbs the size that I'd hoped for, I'll be planting out all that is worth sowing again this fall and maybe buying more in for planting. Hooked!!! Hi ~gd!
Hope all is well with you!
I was hoping to make a few bucks off of the California Late White by doing garlic braids and seeing if I could sell a few locally. It didn't work out this year, so we'll just enjoy eating it. I'll just keep working on amending my new beds and they'll get to the point that they need to be...it's the 3rd year working them so I'm almost halfway there (I've read 7 years). If worse comes to worse, I'll try my hand at bartering my garlic for other fruits, veggies, etc... as we landed ourselves (unknowingly at the time we bought the property) in a wonderful community of folks.
I love Elephant Garlic too, and grew some this year and last, but suspect my chickens decimated it after getting into the bed that I'd planted it in. Still need to dig in that bed and check, to be sure one way or the other. :/
