Hey Guys,
Just a quick update on the progress of the garden and in particular of course the star of the show is the fabulous four garlic varieties I am growing this year.
Every year I like to try different cultivars and different types from the Porcelains, Marbled purple stripes, standard purple stripes, rocamboles and any other hardneck types. I am already thinking about next years picks. This year they are all porcelains that are well known. Polish garlic, Romanian Red, Georgian Crystal and our own local variety that some call the Sweet Candy. The Polish and the Romanian Red should be spicy and hot and the Sweet Candy and Georgian Crystal should be mild and tasty.
I am really please with the development and surely this has got to be one of the most fun things to grow. soon in a couple more weeks we will be enjoying the first harvest from this crop. Yes, in case you didn't know there is actually two harvests that will take place. The first harvest will be the garlic scapes. I can't wait to show you them. They are one of my all time favorite things. It's a good thing that I have a freezer because that is how I keep them as long as possible. They can be eaten fresh on their own or used in salads or made into a pesto or grilled etc... Of course I will post pics of them when they are growing and when they are harvested and when I actually use them in some culinary creation.
Last year I learned a new technique of removing the scape in which you sort of get a grip on it and you actually pull it out from its socket giving you a long scape. Most people snap it off, mostly the top tender curly part. sometimes they just snap on their own but I kind of like to first try and get the whole thing because that sort of doubles the amount of scape you get. There is also another reason why the scape is harvested. You see, the scape is actually
the plant going to flower and seed. When we remove it then the energy that would otherwise be used by the plant to flower will be saved and this will help to give more energy to the bulb in the ground which is generally thought to produce a bigger bulb. The scape starts by growing in a curl but when it uncurls and stands completely erect is one way to tell that the garlic bulb is ready to harvest, so it is good to actually leave a couple of plants intact so we can see this happen which will be another way to decide if the garlic is ready. Also by letting a couple of plants go to seed, the seed can be harvested and from this a new generation of garlic can be started but it would take several years before the bulbs grew as big as the ones we grow from the clone method of planting cloves.
this picture is of a hot chili plant called the Red Flame. I am growing some of them along with a few jalapeno plants and some other stuff that I will show as they start to grow and develop into produce. there has been a rabbit that has been around and eaten some of the plants which I am not too pleased about. So I hope there will be something to photograph. Stay tuned the scapes are on the way. and then the next harvest will be the main attraction when the actual garlic bulbs
are excavated and cured, should be amazing and I hope you can be there for it.
