Sally's GF3 thread

[saysfaa]

Most of the garlic in grocery stores is grown in China. I would not plant it for that reason.

 

[Sally PB]

I also don't know difference between Hard, or soft.

Hard neck grows a scape, which is essentially a flower stalk, and another harvestable crop from the plant. They are delicious! Think of thin, semi-crunchy asparagus spears that taste like mild garlic. Yum. You cut the scapes and the plant sends more resources to growing larger cloves. When you harvest the bulbs, the scape is a hard stem in the center of the bulb, with the cloves arranged around it.

Soft neck doesn't grow scapes.

Most of the garlic in grocery stores is grown in China. I would not plant it for that reason.

I wonder if the upscale markets like Whole Foods source garlic locally...? (Local meaning this country.)

 

[NanaK]

Hard neck grows a scape, which is essentially a flower stalk, and another harvestable crop from the plant. They are delicious! Think of thin, semi-crunchy asparagus spears that taste like mild garlic. Yum. You cut the scapes and the plant sends more resources to growing larger cloves. When you harvest the bulbs, the scape is a hard stem in the center of the bulb, with the cloves arranged around it.

Soft neck doesn't grow scapes.

I wonder if the upscale markets like Whole Foods source garlic locally...? (Local meaning this country.)

Last year I found an organic soft neck at the grocery store. It was grown and packaged in California. I bought enough to cook with and plant. They grew just fine. I got a nice harvest and replanted some a few weeks ago. They are sprouting now.

 

[Sally PB]

It's the end of the bean experiment. Not because they got frosted (and we had frost last night), but because I don't think letting the pods go any longer will make a difference, and if it did get cold enough down there to frost under two sheets, I'd lose them all.

So I pulled the plants and have them drying on the tables in the green house. I don't know if the beans inside will be viable, but I'll let them dry anyway.

A couple of pods did get nipped; they were brown and mushy. Maybe they were too close to the sheets, or there wasn't enough air rising from the ground to protect them.

No more going out to cover them up around 4:30 or so, and taking the thermometer down to the garden to be certain it's warm enough down there before I uncover them.

I am truly AMAZED at how long they lasted.

 

[cavemanrich]

I grow a container pot of Garlic chive. It keeps coming up every year for about 3 or 4 years now. I like it.
BTW, If the store garlic comes from China,,,,, I have no quarrels with that.
Sally, by your description,,, the store garlic I get appears to be the soft neck variety.

 

[Sally PB]

Sally, by your description,,, the store garlic I get appears to be the soft neck variety.

I think most garlic sold in stores is softneck. I've read it stores better than hardneck.

I'm wondering... if softneck stores better, then maybe the minced garlic sold in jars is from hardneck. Hardneck garlic *usually* has larger cloves, and I can see that would be a plus for processing.

 

[NanaK]

A couple of pods did get nipped; they were brown and mushy. Maybe they were too close to the sheets, or there wasn't enough air rising from the ground to protect them.

Maybe the mushy ones were not completely mature and hard?
In spring I have lots of green bean, lima and field pea volunteers. So maybe any of your beans that have hardened will still sprout.

No more going out to cover them up around 4:30 or so

I've done this and still do if necessary. It gets old fast!

 

[Sally PB]

I've done this and still do if necessary. It gets old fast!

We did this for a few nights last May, covering the cherry trees and blueberry bushes, which were all in bloom with frost expected over night. Yeah, it was a PITA to do, but otherwise we would have lost all the cherries and blueberries.

Oh, that's right. We did lose them all. The squirrels or birds got all -- all but 6! -- of the cherries. I got maybe 2 quarts of blueberries out of 6 bushes.

Gonna cogitate about this over the winter and figure out a way to keep the critters from getting it all.

 

[cavemanrich]

Gonna cogitate about this over the winter and figure out a way to keep the critters from getting it all.

Solution may be at hand. Do like I do. I feed my squirrel pets BOSS.
Yes I do go thru a lot of BAGS, But I just my pets.
Squirrel are just like all living creatures. ALL NEED TO EAT.

 

[Sally PB]

Hmmm.... I wonder if I put a feeder with BOSS out there... Far enough away that they don't get the idea that's lunch and the fruit is dessert...