And then there was one.... well after I made soup there was only one left.
Garlic was a new endeavor for me last fall, and it proved so fruitful. From the first little snippets of garlic flavored green in early April, then scapes (the flowering stalk of the garlic) in June to 40 huge heads of garlic that lasted until now. I should say though that I used about 12 of those heads for planting in October. That just about breaks my heart, seeing all that garlic go into the soil. I know that each one of those cloves will become a whole head... but what if they don't come up, it's a gamble, and I bet most of my pot!!!
But perhaps there is another way...
This year, in addition to planting cloves of garlic for propagation, I planted bulbils, these are the small top set cloves. They are harvested from the garlic flower/topset. There can be hundreds of bulbils on one garlic flower/topset, but they are very small, sometimes the size of a grain of rice! But according to the experts they will each grow into a clove by next July, the same time that the cloves I planted in October will be full heads of garlic. The cloves that grew from the bulbils are planted in the fall, to be harvested the next year as a full head of garlic.
Very confusing at first, at least for me...
The bulbils in other words are a three season garlic propagation technique.
Year one allow a few garlics to flower and form topsets harvest them and wait until fall planting time. Plant bulbils.
Year two harvest cloves of garlic from bulbil bed and wait until fall. Plant cloves.
Year three harvest scapes and then garlic in July!! Easy -Peasy right???
If anyone is still with me, the advantage to all this waiting is the volume of garlic that can be harvested in the third year, for me it will be 2010. The input is very low so it sounds like a great way to grow garlic with out sacrificing my beautiful bulbs in the fall!!!
I'm crossing my fingers, yet very curious and excited at the prospect of that much garlic!! Has anyone tried this method? Had successes/failures?!
6 comments:
Good info, very useful. Love your bottom pic, they looks so comfortable your garlics! / Tyra
I have enough trouble getting garlic to grow in my garden. I've never tried such a long method of prorogation. It will be interesting to see if you get garlic similar to what you planted or lots of different kinds of garlic. You might find one that does really really well in your area.
This fall is the first fall in a long time I've planted garlic. I've never had a lot of success before. But hope reigns supreme. Maybe next year I'll get lots of yummy garlic.
Hi!
Thanks fore stoping by me.
Yes we glaze to.. but I love the oxides and work mostly with them..... and then my studends have to..
Linda
Daphne- If I have read correctly, the two forms of propagation I'm using are just cloning the original head of garlic. So although I'm hoping that I wind up with piles of it, it should only be two varieties.... I hope.
Tyra- It did look very comfy, lots of straw mulch!
Very interesting post - I hadn't heard of this method of growing garlic, but it sounds as though it will be worth the wait. I love your turnip photos too!
I hope it works out. I have planted cloves for the last several years and it is sad when the last one come around.
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