Growing fresh garlic

[fredtoast]

Just planted my garden. In addition to the usual corn, beans, peppers, and tomatoes, this year I am also growing garlic and onions.

I have never grown garlic before, but a while back I was at the grocery store and they had a package of garlic buds in the "reduced for quick sale" bin in the produce section. Since many of them were already starting to sprout I decided to use them as seed.

I discovered that it is best to plant garlic in the fall in order to get it to sprout as early as possible in the spring.

I eat a lot of garlic in pretty much everything. I love cheese pizza with nothing but a bunch of roasted garlic on it.

I'll keep you all informed on how this works out.

Any of you ever tried to grow it?

[MileHighGrowler]

Nice! I have not grown garlic (or any other underground vegetable). Since it's so dry and the sun is very intense in Colorado (and my shady areas aren't conducive space-wise for planting), I tend to focus mostly on hot peppers in my garden every year. Tomatoes, beans and sweet peppers don't do well for me in my space. I've had some success with squash, but they have been started inside (either from seed or small plant) well before planting season or they don't produce fruit until late enough in the year that frost is a concern. Obviously, the pumpkin farms all pull it off, but I've had to start them in April or May because waiting till June doesn't always give them enough time if we got the first freeze in September. The amount of hail we get every summer makes gardening here hard as well. But those hot peppers are hardy and I end up with some interesting hot sauces and salsas all year as a result!

Curious to hear how your garlic experiment goes. I had a similar thought recently when I saw some sprouting garlic, so I'm curious what you discover on ease and yield.

[CloeHokie]

Never tried but I also use a ton of it. Sounds like a good plan. Hope it turns out well. Look forward to hearing about it

[fredtoast]

I am now looking at ways to use/preserve the garlic. If you hang the bulbs and let them cure for a few weeks after harvest the garlic should keep for a long time in a cool dry place. But I already do a good bit of work "processing" the onions and peppers from my garden.

I always sauté onions and peppers not matter what I use them in. Even in meatloaf or stew where they will cook thoroughly I saute them first because I think it makes them taste better. So I saute huge pans of onions and peppers and then freeze them in about a cup serving in sandwich bags. My mom used to chop up and freeze her peppers, but they took up twice as much room in the freezer that way and were just mooshy when they thawed out anyway.

This year I think I might make some sort of pepper/onion/garlic relish and can it. I have canned a lot of sliced banana peppers and jalapenos. It is not that hard if you don't cook anything in the jars. I just pour boiling brine over the peppers. That is enough to get the lids to seal. With a relish I would probably have to put the jars in a water bath to get them hot enough to seal, but I have a rack to do that with.

[fredtoast]

(05-05-2022, 07:08 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote:   But those hot peppers are hardy and I end up with some interesting hot sauces and salsas all year as a result!

Here in Tennessee there are lots of people selling farm produce out of their trucks by the side of the road.

When I lived in Colorado there were people by the side of the road with gas flames and roasting baskets selling roasted and dried chili peppers.

Roasting totally changes the flavor of garlic and peppers. "Chipotle" is roasted pepper.  I am Mile High knows all of this if he is making sauces.

[SladeX]

(05-06-2022, 12:57 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am now looking at ways to use/preserve the garlic. If you hang the bulbs and let them cure for a few weeks after harvest the garlic should keep for a long time in a cool dry place. But I already do a good bit of work "processing" the onions and peppers from my garden.

I always sauté onions and peppers not matter what I use them in. Even in meatloaf or stew where they will cook thoroughly I saute them first because I think it makes them taste better. So I saute huge pans of onions and peppers and then freeze them in about a cup serving in sandwich bags. My mom used to chop up and freeze her peppers, but they took up twice as much room in the freezer that way and were just mooshy when they thawed out anyway.

This year I think I might make some sort of pepper/onion/garlic relish and can it. I have canned a lot of sliced banana peppers and jalapenos. It is not that hard if you don't cook anything in the jars. I just pour boiling brine over the peppers. That is enough to get the lids to seal. With a relish I would probably have to put the jars in a water bath to get them hot enough to seal, but I have a rack to do that with.

I saute first also, i have the same thought. Im going to try it on some pizza this week, that im going to bake in the green egg. Keep us posted , I’d like to grow my own garlic.

Have hou ever made black garlic. Local whole foods not carrying for overca year now.

[grampahol]

In the first year or so you can use the greens to cook with.. the bulbs generally take a year or so to form..  We have onions we grow just for the greens.. I probably ought to check one to see if they've formed bulbs yet, but the greens are still good..

[fredtoast]

(05-09-2022, 11:54 AM)grampahol Wrote: In the first year or so you can use the greens to cook with.. the bulbs generally take a year or so to form..  We have onions we grow just for the greens.. I probably ought to check one to see if they've formed bulbs yet, but the greens are still good..

Green onion blades are awesome.

[grampahol]

(05-09-2022, 01:05 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Green onion blades are awesome.

Sure.. We have green onion greens that are going on 3 years old still in the ground.. They just bloomed this spring for the first time..

[fredtoast]

So the crop was pretty much a failure. I don't know why. I need to do more research.

I know I planted them late, but that was not the problem. they just never grew and developed properly. I used compost and watered them but they never grew very well the blades would just turn brown and wilt. When I harvested the the cloves most of them were barely bigger than when I planted them and a lot of them were soft instead of firm and solid.

I have to let the dry and cure before I decide how to store/use them or use them.

[fredtoast]

Onion's eventually flower at the top of their blades. That is where onion seeds/sets come form.



Maybe that is what I need to grow garlic.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(05-05-2022, 02:51 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Just planted my garden.  In addition to the usual corn, beans, peppers, and tomatoes, this year I am also growing garlic and onions.

I have never grown garlic before, but a while back I was at the grocery store and they had a package of garlic buds in the "reduced for quick sale" bin in the produce section.  Since many of them were already starting to sprout I decided to use them as seed.

I discovered that it is best to plant garlic in the fall in order to get it to sprout as early as possible in the spring.

I eat a lot of garlic in pretty much everything.  I love cheese pizza with nothing but a bunch of roasted garlic on it.

I'll keep you all informed on how this works out.

Any of you ever tried to grow it?

I have grown garlic all my adult life, so for over 20 years. Like you say, plant the cloves in the fall in fresh tilled earth. But 
remember to put straw down which helps contain the weeds a bit. Garlic is extremely hardy but there are other weeds like
Garlic purge I think it is called (that is what we called it) that look like garlic but take over. Have to study these weeds up.

Also, to get your biggest garlic you want to give your roots plenty of room and before they seed out cut off the seed stems.

This allows all the water to go to the bulbs. Also, early in the spring is when you should water the most to get the stalks 
strong, usually the bigger the stalk at the base, the bigger the garlic and we grew Georgia Porcelain Zemo garlic that 
almost looked as big as elephant garlic that really isn't garlic.

[grampahol]

Anyone remember back when it was claimed that garlic caused bad breath? 
"Anyone can have bad breath, but you could knock a buzzard off a shit wagon!"
My grandparents swore by the garlic bad breath thing. My grandmother didn't care and never noticed her having bad breath, but my grandfather on the other acted like she was out to do him in with it..
Anyway..Anyone remember those old wives tales?   
Limburger with garlic!  Nasty smelling, but tastes great..