My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

Tina

"Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so did he
plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

In message , Bob Hobden
writes

"Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so did he
plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.

On this subject, for the first time I tried Garlic Blanak this year
(planted last Nov.). I usually have good success with garlic. They grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with
very strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and
unusual but unplanned. I broke off the flower buds and deposited them in
the compost heap. However, I have now read in a BBC GW blog that the
flowers should be left on until the whole plant dies back after which
they should be lifted (late August). I don't recall ever doing this
before. Any guidance or suggestions would be welcome.

TIA.
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

"Gopher" wrote
after Bob Hobden
replied to Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic
he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like
a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so did
he
plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.

On this subject, for the first time I tried Garlic Blanak this year
(planted last Nov.). I usually have good success with garlic. They grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with very
strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and unusual
but unplanned. I broke off the flower buds and deposited them in the
compost heap. However, I have now read in a BBC GW blog that the flowers
should be left on until the whole plant dies back after which they should
be lifted (late August). I don't recall ever doing this before. Any
guidance or suggestions would be welcome.

Just a different strain of Garlic.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

In message , Bob Hobden
writes

"Gopher" wrote
after Bob Hobden
replied to Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic
he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like
a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so did
he
plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.

On this subject, for the first time I tried Garlic Blanak this year
(planted last Nov.). I usually have good success with garlic. They grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with very
strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and unusual
but unplanned. I broke off the flower buds and deposited them in the
compost heap. However, I have now read in a BBC GW blog that the flowers
should be left on until the whole plant dies back after which they should
be lifted (late August). I don't recall ever doing this before. Any
guidance or suggestions would be welcome.

Just a different strain of Garlic.

I appreciate that - but am concerned about the principle of ignoring
bolting and let the plant do its thing before harvesting. As mentioned,
I have never allowed the plant to flower before lifting. I suppose a
blog (even a Beeb Blog) reflects only the postings of its subscribers
but does anyone allow the flowering and dying back of any strain of
garlic prior to lifting?

--
Gopher .... I know my place!

On Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:20:59 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:


"Gopher" wrote
after Bob Hobden
replied to Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic
he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like
a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so did
he
plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.

On this subject, for the first time I tried Garlic Blanak this year
(planted last Nov.). I usually have good success with garlic. They grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with very
strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and unusual
but unplanned. I broke off the flower buds and deposited them in the
compost heap. However, I have now read in a BBC GW blog that the flowers
should be left on until the whole plant dies back after which they should
be lifted (late August). I don't recall ever doing this before. Any
guidance or suggestions would be welcome.

Just a different strain of Garlic.

If you replant them they will clove-up next year. If they're big
enough use them as they are. I harvested mine today. No
prize-winners here! Mine have not split up yet either and were
planted in Oct. I'm so tired of having them die back and then I can't
find them. By September mine would be totally died back.
They die back very suddenly in my experience, usually about this time.

Pam in Bristol

"Gopher" wrote ...
Bob Hobden
writes

"Gopher" wrote
after Bob Hobden
replied to Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic
he'd
planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's
like
a
small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in
ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so
did
he
plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.

On this subject, for the first time I tried Garlic Blanak this year
(planted last Nov.). I usually have good success with garlic. They grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with
very
strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and
unusual
but unplanned. I broke off the flower buds and deposited them in the
compost heap. However, I have now read in a BBC GW blog that the flowers
should be left on until the whole plant dies back after which they
should
be lifted (late August). I don't recall ever doing this before. Any
guidance or suggestions would be welcome.

Just a different strain of Garlic.

I appreciate that - but am concerned about the principle of ignoring
bolting and let the plant do its thing before harvesting. As mentioned, I
have never allowed the plant to flower before lifting. I suppose a blog
(even a Beeb Blog) reflects only the postings of its subscribers but does
anyone allow the flowering and dying back of any strain of garlic prior to
lifting?


With some strains of Garlic you will always get a flower spike and it is
normal to just leave it alone and harvest in the normal way. See...
http://www.harvestwizard.com/2007/03..._garlic_t.html

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

Gopher wrote:

hey grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with
very strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and
unusual but unplanned.

It depends on your soil fertility whether you want to remove the scapes or
not. Also, even softneck garlic will sometimes put up these "flower"
stalks, which will eventually have miniature bulbs on them
In my location in the northeastern U.S., leaving the scapes on results in
much smaller bulbs, so I cut them off. As a bonus, they make lovely
stir-fries and/or pesto! Most of what I grow is hardneck, in fact I need
to start cutting scapes right now! I pull/dig when about half the leaves
have browned, which is usually in late July.



Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

In message , Gary Woods
writes
Gopher wrote:

hey grew
beautifully until about a week ago when they all started bolting with
very strange curly piggy tails with the bud on the end. Attractive and
unusual but unplanned.

It depends on your soil fertility whether you want to remove the scapes or
not. Also, even softneck garlic will sometimes put up these "flower"
stalks, which will eventually have miniature bulbs on them
In my location in the northeastern U.S., leaving the scapes on results in
much smaller bulbs, so I cut them off. As a bonus, they make lovely
stir-fries and/or pesto! Most of what I grow is hardneck, in fact I need
to start cutting scapes right now! I pull/dig when about half the leaves
have browned, which is usually in late July.



Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

Thanks to all who replied. This is the first time I have had a concern
when growing garlic - it normally performs perfectly and we get
excellent crops. But never having tried Blanak before and never having
had the bolting issue previously I appreciate and am heartened by the
advice given.


--
Gopher .... I know my place!

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Christina Websell" wrote...
My aunt has an Indian gardener. She invited me to dig up some garlic
he'd planted, as she thought she had far too much.
I dug up 4. I was expecting it to be in cloves but it isn't. It's like
a small onion.
Should I cut in quarters, squash it in my garlic press, freeze it in ice
cubes trays or what?

That is a sign it didn't get it's cold spell it needs to clove up, so did
he plant it this spring? Should be planted September or early October.
Any of those is OK, whatever way you will use it.
--
I was wrong. It looked like an onion but when I decided to prepare it for
the freezer today once I kept peeling it there were cloves in there!
I should have trusted him - surely Indians know how to grow garlic!
I crushed some and put it in foil and then froze the other cloves entire.
It was very juicy.

Tina