Is my Elephant garlic ready, Jo?

Do you think it's ready, or should I let more of the tops get brown? They seem awfully big, but I think it was a little farther into June last year.

Also, the test one I dug up seems bigger than last year. Do you think all the rain has made them do something a little "funny?" It's on a 4" timber.

Should I wash the garlic or just let the dirt dry on it?

The last pic is of the Spaghetti Squash. I plant it on the first row and train the vines to grow over the edge and actually out of the garden, so those vines will have plenty of room.



This message was edited May 31, 2015 8:37 PM

I usually let it get a little more dry, but if sure looks good. I wash the soil off lightly and let it dry.

When I harvest my garlic, I get off as much dirt as possible, then set them in a shaded, dry place to dry. When the tops are all brown, I cut them off and dust off the rest of the dirt. Save the little bulblets (or whatever they're called) to plant next year, too.

stephanietx
have you harvested your garlic this year yet?

No, but I need to. I've got some I panted this spring just to see what they'd do, but there are others that are volunteers that are just about ready.

so the one in my front flowerbed might be due to dig up? Aha. I planted about 20 a year or 2 ago and only one survived the drought

Well, we had to repair fence all last week, since my horses were getting out, Of course, they waited each time until mom and dad were asleep before the wanderlust set in. The ground was so soft that the part of the split rail fence that was on a curve was leaning out a little and very insecure. You know, sometimes when I'm trying to teach those little suckers something, it just seems like I have to do it over and over and --well, you get my drift. I can't imagine how they remembered exactly where the weak place was, and without any prompting from me, pushed the rails out so easily. Sooo frustrating. I just love getting calls from the sherrif's dept at midnight telling me they're out. Grrrrr. I even wrote out my ad: Three very nice horses for sale. Love to travel, making new friends and connecting with old ones. etc.

We're done with the fence now, and I'm deeply in like with my pasture pretties again, so....

What does all that have to do with gardening? Just this: I was waiting one or two more days until my elephant garlic was dryer before I dug it up, but when we started doing fence work (mixing concrete, etc.) that all went on hold. Bottom line, I dust dug it all up today. It looks ok, but about 1/3 to 1/2 of the little bulblets have sprouted. Does that ruin them for planting? Or maybe I should go ahead and plant them now. I withheld watering while waiting for them to dry, but I guess they were still pretty wet from the rain. Also, I washed all the garlic off pretty good, and they are in a sunny place. Please advise.

Your pasture pretties sound very special. Watching and waiting for this garlic answer....

That garlic looks great, and yes I would plant the bulblets now.

Should I plant the ones with the little white tales on them, or just the intack ones?
They're not hard like the previous ones I've gotten, so will they come up next year instead of taking two years?

Also, as you can see, the garlic is on the ground (dry ground), but if I leave it there, it will get dew on it. Is that ok?

I would take the garlic to a dry place, you can plant the little ones in a small trench and they will probably will do fine.

Hmmmm, the little bulblets that I showed in the last pic were just some that had fallen on the ground as I was washing the dirt off the garlic. I just went out there to pick all the others off the pods, and I saw that those were not sprouts at all, but the garlic root that was holding the little guys onto their mama.

I would really love to plant them now, because they are really so much softer than ones I've gotten before, and I think it wouldn't take them nearly as long to make. Problem is I don't have any place prepared to plant them. I do have a tiller, but I so don't need another project right now. So much to do.

These bulblets are so small. Do they make big, full pods just like when you plant the cloves? Have you ever planted them, Jo?

OK, so now I've transferred them all (in the dark) to the front porch to begin drying. I'm leaving the porch fan on low to keep the air circulating around them. I know I got them way too wet while washing. Hope they'll be ok.

This is a temporary fix only until Sunday, when there will be many people wanting to sit out there. Must think of a more permanent home.

Sybil, your garlic looks great! Good job!

I tend to leave many bulblets behind when harvesting. This year every garlic I harvested was from one of those things. LOL I didn't intentionally plant any garlic last fall, but had several come up.

Yes I have planted the bulblets, and it takes them two years to make a head of garlic, with the cloves it only takes 1 year.

You're a lucky girl, Stephanie. Were the pods as large as when you planted the cloves?

Jo, do you think it would still take two years even though they have a much softer covering? Of course, it won't take long in the drying air-conditioning to harden the little buggers up.

Sybil, a couple were large, but most were about the size of a golf ball. I also planted about 3 or 4 cloves early this spring to see how they did planting them "late". I've not dug those yet.

Yeah, I had a few like that, too.