On 7/21/19 4:58 PM, songbird wrote:
Drew Lawson wrote:
...
Sounds a lot like field onion, which has been a common weed most
places that I've had a garden. Time and frustration just brought
me to accept that what I dug up was "most of it." Also, unless the
compost gets really hot, they'll survive that as well.

it is definitely not onion. hardneck garlic. very hot, very
good.

the patch out back i've been gradually removing my mistaken
scattering of bulbules eons ago is now being mowed this season
because i had no time to get back to it and Mom was sick of
looking at it. i'm pretty sure the garlic under there will
come back next spring and for years after as bulbs can store
a lot of energy. they will keep downsizing until given a
chance to recover. the smaller bulbs will not survive - yet
in the end we shall see what happens. i really want to plant
that area next season.


I don't *seem* to have much onion right now. Just the creeping
thistle (which is mostly dying under the mulch this year -- a welcome
surprise).

yeah, mulch will help make it easier to remove it as the
roots will grow in the mulch much easier than in poor subsoil,
but the thistle here which is a real PITA has no trouble
going down 2-3ft in the clay. i keep digging it out when it
surfaces and then i track any bits of root back down as
far as i can. eventually it gives up and runs out of energy
but that is a challenge. cardboard layers work as mulch.
persistent weeding after elimination is required here to
keep it from coming back.


On topic: After last year's neglect, I believe I have reclaimed a
space suitable for garlic. Hopefully I will be planting it this
fall. No clue currently on varieties. I suspect one softneck and
one hardneck, since I don't know what I prefer. The catalog
descriptions are of limited value, since I don't know whether the
grocery store garlic is "hot" or not (probably not). And if I
haven't had "hot," how do I know whether I like it?

if you like to eat raw garlic like a slice of an apple
then hot is good. if you like it for cooking and tend
to fry it in oil and then discard the garlic because that
is enough garlic flavor for you then hot is not what you
are after. it depends upon what you like and what you
might use it for.


songbird


I love the hot stuff!