Wrinkly garlic
I dug up one of my garlic bulbs today (couldn't help myself...too
impatient). The bulb was, of course, small and not well-formed, but the thing that struck me was that it appeared wrinkly and not full-fleshed. It was kind of soft. Does this have anything to do with my watering habits? I only water the garlic infrequently since I'm wary of making the ground so soggy that it would tend toward rotting the bulbs. Mark |
Wrinkly garlic
|
Wrinkly garlic
Leave that garlic alone until July at least.
Good advice if you want the largest bulbs - but - you haven't lived until you have had green garlic. I will pick one plant out in mid June. By that time, the bulb is just starting to form but you use the stems. Mine are planted 4" deep and mulched with 3-4" rough compost so there is about 4" of white stem that is quite firm as well as 4-6" green stem. Chop it all up fine and use it as you would any garlic. The first one is usually mixed with butter, spread liberally over French (OOPS I meant Freedom bread) and broiled to golden brown. Oh gee, I just drooled on my keyboard. |
Wrinkly garlic
(simy1) wrote in message . com...
(Mark) wrote in message . com... I dug up one of my garlic bulbs today (couldn't help myself...too impatient). The bulb was, of course, small and not well-formed, but the thing that struck me was that it appeared wrinkly and not full-fleshed. It was kind of soft. Does this have anything to do with my watering habits? I only water the garlic infrequently since I'm wary of making the ground so soggy that it would tend toward rotting the bulbs. Mark Leave that garlic alone until July at least. But it's just so tempting to pull one now and again to see how things are going! Of course, I did that last year with the carrots and finally wound up with about 5 of them reaching maturity... I'm in zone 6, the temps are averaging in the 70's during the day, 50's at night. Not that much rain lately, but we got a nice slow soaker last night. Regarding the harvest: I'm growing elephant garlic and Polish hardneck. When will I know it's time to pull them up? I plan to cut off any heads before they try to flower. Is there a set length of time after that I should wait before harvest? I have read conflicting advice about waiting until the stalks/foliage starts to turn brown or fall over...any advice? Mark |
Wrinkly garlic
(Mark) wrote:
I'm growing elephant garlic and Polish hardneck. When will I know it's time to pull them up? Wait until about half the leaves have turned brown; NOT all. If you wait too long, the bulb will start to open up and the wrapper leaves will be gone, which is bad for storage. Eat those first. Basics on my personal page, in the .sig below. Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at www.albany.net/~gwoods Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1200' elevation. NY WO G |
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