Holy Garlic Batman!!! Harvest Pics!!

gixxerific · Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:15 pm

Well not bad for my first time with garlic. Though I think maybe I pulled the a little early. That being said I found a few that the cloves were separating from the bulbs. So those were obviously over done. SO maybe I got them right. They are Music and Chesnok Red, the reds were not real purple which makes me think maybe some were early. I hope that doesn't matter. They all have defined cloves though that is a good sign. The one I ate the other night was awesome so...... Like I said this was my first time.

Definitely not the last. I have 136 bulbs so let's do the math. 5 - 10 cloves per bulb depending on the variety so that is a whole lot of garlic for next year.

If I did pull them early I blame it on me excitement to see how they did.

But I had to do something when the weather was right. We finally had a few dry day's and guess what a bunch of rain for a while again. Who would have thunk.

Well what do you think?

Oh yeah I did it all with my Helpful Gardener hat on.

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[img]https://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj185/gixxerific/Gardening/DSC05282.jpg[/img]

Aya · Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:18 pm

That is a ton of garlic! It looks amazing! Is garlic a good storage crop? I've found myself using it a lot more than I used to, so I might grow some next year

DoubleDogFarm · Fri Jun 24, 2011 6:21 pm

Way to Go! Blue Ribbon crop!

Doesn't look early to me.

I cut all the scapes off mine a few days ago. Harvest in about three weeks or so.

Eric

gixxerific · Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:38 pm

can't wait to see your harvest Eric. I'm sure you have more than me. But I was pulling it out and saying to myself "holy mackerel I have 3 more rows left of this what am I going to do with it all". It was piling up fast.

You sell to a produce stand right? There is a new one right around the corner is it worth trying to sell some of mine to them? Even just a little I think I may have one or two extra tomatoes this year as well.

I wouldn't mind selling a little for now just to get my feet wet. I would love to do this as a side business or maybe one day my own business.

DoubleDogFarm · Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:57 pm

No, We probably have about the same count. Sounds like Soil planted hundreds.

I have a booth at the Farmers Market. Garlic is $8.00 per pound. Tomatoes $4.00 per pound.

Eric

soil · Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:21 pm

nice one gixx! that's a bountiful table. I wouldn't sell any. pickle them, roast them whole( oh yumm!!) there are tons of ways to eat lots of garlic and its so good for you. you need some for planting next year too.

get them out of the sun though! let them dry in the full shade and keep them dry for a few days until the roots are dry and twist off at the base. sun + garlic = bad.

we started our garlic harvest the other day. pulled a good 100+/- out.

gixxerific · Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:41 pm

soil wrote:nice one gixx! that's a bountiful table. I wouldn't sell any. pickle them, roast them whole( oh yumm!!) there are tons of ways to eat lots of garlic and its so good for you. you need some for planting next year too.

get them out of the sun though! let them dry in the full shade and keep them dry for a few days until the roots are dry and twist off at the base. sun + garlic = bad.

we started our garlic harvest the other day. pulled a good 100+/- out.

I had them in the shade I pulled them out for the pic. Though they are again in the sun. The back of my house gets very early morning sun than again from about 5 p.m. till sunset. is that bad. They would be in the shade the majority of the day. If not I will have to dry them inside or the garage or something. Again I'm new to garlic.

orgoveg · Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:24 pm

Oh, those turned out nice! I don't think I'll have the same success (wrong type for growing in North).

SOB · Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:44 pm

Great pics and great harvest! I too am a first year garlic grower so I have been following your harvest related questions/threads closely

I just pulled one yesterday since we needed a couple cloves and the head wasn't real big but the cloves were nice size. I was pretty happy! I'm going to take most of mine and save for planting in the fall...

Congrats!

gixxerific · Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:54 pm

Sob we will see if you hold true to saving MOST of it after you start eating it. LOL I am sitting outside right next to the garlic table wanting to just take a bulb and eat it straight up dirt wrapper and all.

It doesn't help I'm surfing and looking up ways to roast garlic. I'm looking at the pictures and I can actually smell them LOL!

Here is a good link with a few way's to do it.

https://www.thehungrymouse.com/2010/02/01/roasted-garlic-three-ways/

Bobberman · Fri Jun 24, 2011 11:30 pm

No vampires near you home! Very nice!

gixxerific · Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:05 am

Bobberman wrote:No vampires near you home! Very nice!

Ha ha that is what I was telling my wife. She just got back from out of town. The whole back yard smells like garlic.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!

soil · Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:16 am

I had them in the shade I pulled them out for the pic. Though they are again in the sun. The back of my house gets very early morning sun than again from about 5 p.m. till sunset. is that bad. They would be in the shade the majority of the day. If not I will have to dry them inside or the garage or something. Again I'm new to garlic.

full shade, not sure if this is the correct term. but the sun seems to cook them. a garage would be fine as long as it gets good air flow and not too hot. we have ours on a table under a big tree. after they dry the dirty skins will easily rub off, the roots will easily twist off at the base and the leaves will pick from the stem. then your good to go until next year.

there's a few people at the local farmers market who don't do this with the garlic they sell, its just pull it, wash it and sell it. and most of them get soft within a week, and last not much longer than that. the little garlic I have left from last year with good drying and curing is still rock solid and just as good as when I harvested it.

oh thanks for the link, that garlic butter looks real good

rainbowgardener · Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:18 am

Beautiful!

Moley · Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:38 am

Nothing better than smoked garlic, I like Hickory but I have been using some apple and it gives the garlic a slightly fruity aroma.

Gary350 · Sat Jun 25, 2011 8:09 am

That is a great crop of garlic. WOW.

I planted 150 garlic bulbs last year about October, 3 different kinds 50 of each. Yesterday I dug them up. 3 of them made small bulbs and also made tops with about 50 sets each that I can plant. The other 147 that I planted were no larger than the day they were planted. They grew and made some nice green tops after I planted them. Tops came up again in the spring then the tops were gone.

I have tried many times but still no luck growing garlic or onions.

DoubleDogFarm · Sat Jun 25, 2011 10:58 am

Nothing better than smoked garlic, I like Hickory but I have been using some apple and it gives the garlic a slightly fruity aroma.

How long do you smoke them? Skins on or off? What temps?

Gary350, Are you planting in the Fall?

Eric

gixxerific · Sat Jun 25, 2011 11:54 am

Gary350 wrote:That is a great crop of garlic. WOW.

I planted 150 garlic bulbs last year, 3 different kinds 50 of each. Yesterday I dug them up. 3 of them made small bulbs and also made tops with about 50 sets each that I can plant. The other 147 that I planted were no larger than the day they were planted.

I have tried many times but still no luck growing garlic or onions.

Eric raised a good question when are you planting them?

But never fear keep doing it. To be quite honest I have never had good luck with onions either. This year for whatever reason being the weather or where I got them from (I'm going with the latter though even the Lowe's onions did okay) but this is my best ever with them. Just keep plugging away it will come. They are a rascally rabbit I must say. My neighbor had a bad season his didn't get very big. Though my candy's are huge. Though my onions from the same place as his mine got way bigger. So it is all about the right soil I think and good timing. You are not alone with onion problems they are very picky.

Oh and sorry to hear about your bad harvest I really feel for you. Planting all that and not getting much. Sounds like my tomatoes last year. I had tons of tomato plants but not many actual good tomatoes.

soil · Sat Jun 25, 2011 12:03 pm

just pulled up another couple hundred. off to the shade they go. looking to be a good year as far as the underground parts go. surprised because the above ground growth was weaker than last year.

Yogas · Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:18 am

I cook with garlic all the time. You know what I do? I clean off the cloves, put a whole bunch of them in my food processor and chop them up. Then I put the garlic in ziploc freezer bags and press them flat (and pretty thin) and freeze. Then when I want to cook with garlic, I just break off a piece! It makes cooking so much easier and quick. I haven't noticed any difference in taste comparing fresh with frozen?

I do the same thing with fresh ginger.

applestar · Sun Jun 26, 2011 5:57 am

Great harvest! Wow.

Not sure about vampires but if the odor's that strong, it may keep the mosquitoes away for now. There's a garlic based mosquito repellent on the market that you scatter around the garden.

My MIL swears by eating raw garlic to make her blood less attractive to mosquitoes.

I pulled a few of mine yesterday too. I left them sitting on the patio chair pushed under the patio table. Now, I'm thinking when I harvest the rest, I might set up a place for them behind the swing sets under the oak tree where the mosquitoes are thickest....