Consolidated Kansas

[HEChicken]

I guess I need to check my garlic... How do you tell if it's ready?

When the outer five leaves are brown, its ready.

I planted a ton last fall and had 55 come up - yikes! I planted a mix of hardneck and softneck varieties. Hardneck produce a scape which is the seed head, but you need to cut the scape, in order to force the plant to put its energy into developing the bulb rather than the flower. When it puts up the scape, it will go up and then curl around. Wait until it has done a full loop and then the scape is ready to be harvested. Cut it with pruners and you can use the scape itself in cooking. It will have a very mild garlic flavor. After you cut the scape, wait a little longer while it develops the bulb and then when the outer 5 leaves are brown, you can dig up the bulb.

I had always heard that hardneck varieties mature later than softneck, but the first two bulbs that were ready to be dug this year were hardnecks. Since then I've dug a mix of hard and soft necks - about 10 in all. Only 45 to go....

 

[chicken danz]

I've planted garlic for three years and realized I planted a lot more than I could ever use practically so this year I only planted half as much. I don't normally cut the scapes because I use the bulbils for seasoning and the heads get huge just the same. Fertilizer has a lot more to do with the size of the heads than anything according to my Chinese gardening friend. I try to follow his advice because he has one of the most amazing productive gardens I've ever seen. At any rate I went out and cut scapes this afternoon and made three pints of pickled scapes. I think it will be a great treat this winter especially for family get togethers. Just the right thing to go with a veggie platter.
Then I had some nice bulbils and I double bagged those in the fridge. I plan to use those for cooking right now. You can start new plants with those if you have a cool growing space like a basement where you can set up grow lights. It's a long term investment though for future plants. It's a lot easier to save some of your own garlic and plant cloves from those instead.
I bought a new window to install in the chicken building. I was going to use one I had here but decided to get one that would require cutting fewer supports. I think the added light and air flow will make a huge difference in the building.
I couldn't stay out to do much more work. It was just too hot.

 

[Trish44]

It's been kind of quiet on here, I guess everyone is busy trying to keep their birds cool & themselves. I have lots of shade mine can get in but I still find them gathered around the big bowl at the hydrant by the house & sometimes standing in it. I'm not a big fan of either extreme, hot or cold myself.

 

[HEChicken]

I've planted garlic for three years and realized I planted a lot more than I could ever use practically

Right? Get this - I don't actually like garlic that much. I don't know what I was thinking! I think I was just so excited to be gardening in the fall when everything else was done, that I went a little overboard. I may have also assumed that more wouldn't grow than did. I certainly didn't expect to be digging 55 garlic bulbs! So far I think I've used 2-3, given a few away and have a dozen more drying. Still a lot to dig. I'll be saving some to plant again this fall - but I think I'll rein myself in some.

I store the scapes in a baggie in the veg drawer of my fridge and use them any time I'm sautéing onions, garlic etc for a meal. I also put in some crushed garlic but the scapes add a little greenery without too strong a flavor.

Last night I dug a very odd little bulb. It has a bulb at the bottom like you'd expect, but about 6" up the stem, its like it tried to grow another bulb and there are a half dozen tiny cloves clinging to it. Then the rest of the stem. I took a photo but its hard to see the "normal" bulb as it was still covered with dirt AND was in shadow. But I think you can make out the bonus clove higher up the stem in this photo.



We moved the sheep and goats to a new rotational paddock yesterday. I hadn't mowed this area for awhile in anticipation that we'd be using it for grazing, so the grass was thick and lush. Would you say that my goat buck found some stuff he liked to eat? By last night he looked like he was going to give birth to quads any second.



I had one of my regular egg customers here and Smoky waddled over to see what was happening. My customer also has goats and was laughing at this sight.

My newest little lamb has reached the super cute stage. In the evenings when it is cooler, she does her best bucking bronco act, running around leaping and kicking up her heels. She may have started life on the small side (5 days premie and only weighed 6 ½ pounds) but is doing her best to catch up with her siblings. I weighed her again when she was 4 days old and she had gained 3 pounds!!! When you only weigh 6 ½ pounds, a 3-pound weight gain in only 4 days is huge. She is very fortunate that the twins are only 3 days older than she, as the three of them have teamed up to become great little play-mates. They even hang out together during the day, sleeping close to each other but not necessarily close to their mothers. When they wake up, they'll find their mom, nurse, then return to hanging out together again.

 

[chicken danz]

HEChicken, those are the bulbils that form at the top of the scapes if you don't cut them. They are actually tiny garlic cloves you can plant, but they have to be grown in a temperate climate where it is cool but not too cool, and not too hot, and take 3 years to produce full sized garlic. I use those like regular garlic in cooking with the added benefit that you don't have to peel them and of course they are much milder. You can also dry them but I just use most of them when they are fresh.
I have been planting a full pound of garlic every year plus some my friend gives me. This year I only planted a little more than a half pound. I'm thinking somewhere in between would be the proper amount.
I do love garlic though and use a lot of it. I use more garlic powder than actual garlic because it is so much easier to grab and throw in. I guess being lazy sometimes is my worst enemy.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken, those are the bulbils that form at the top of the scapes if you don't cut them.

These were underground - I had to dig them up. Its weird that only one of the whole row of that variety had this?

 

[chicken danz]

If that whole thing was underground you got me stumped. Unless somehow they got buried at an angle after they started growing

 

[HEChicken]

If that whole thing was underground you got me stumped. Unless somehow they got buried at an angle after they started growing

Well darn - I was hoping you had the answer! I showed the pic to my gardening mentor and he said he'd never seen anything like it before either. Weird. I did have one of the little cloves in dinner last night and it tastes and smells just like garlic (not that I'd expect anything different).

It was growing straight up as far as I could tell. I had no idea this was there until I started to dig and in feeling down the stem for the bulb, came upon this close to the surface but far enough under it wasn't visible until I started digging.

 

[chicken danz]

@HEChicken , that is what I love about nature. There's always something new and different and an exception to the rule.

 

[Trish44]

The only garlic I grew was a kind that spreads & I had it coming up all over the place by my pond after that. I think it has died out now maybe but it sure went crazy for a long time. I have two or three big horseradish plants that come up every year that my DH always says we need to use some of that & he never does & I'm not that crazy about it myself. I had originally planted it because he thought he wanted some but he never helps do anything with it.

We got storm after storm here last night, I have no idea how much rain we got but I'm sure it's a mess out there again. It was a loud night & not really great for sleeping with all of the lightening & thunder. I guess we have a big stationary front hanging over us now.