Tune in Saturday, March 3rd at 8:06AM Arizona time with Julie Murphree of the Arizona Farm Bureau and learn about Arizona’s #Garlic Harvest.
Podcast and a summary transcript will be added to this page after the live radio broadcast.
Recipe of the Month:
Home Maintenance Calendar:
March Home Maintenance Calendar To-Do: #Garlic
GROWING YOUR OWN GROCERY STORE GARLIC
Often times we get homeowners who write in about their success stories when it comes to planting and sometimes we hear about their not so successful stories. The following is one of those success stories!
I’ve grown my own garlic in Scottsdale for decades. Every garlic type I’ve found in the grocery stores has grown with near 100% production. In September plant the cloves under about 2 inches of dirt. The biggest cloves make the biggest garlic. Each clove has a mind of its own as to when to come up; they can be weeks apart. Harvest around June or July when the lower leaves die; that is, dig them up, the bulbs are deep.
There are two basic types, hardneck and softneck. Hardneck tend to be larger with fewer cloves, but don’t keep as well; they also send up a large central scape (stalk, i.e., the hard neck) that produces bubils on top. Bubils can be planted, and both bulbils and scapes can be eaten, but I don’t do either. Large bulbs often produce small tough skinned “riders” on the sides of the bulbs. These are small cloves that will last a very long time, and can be planted, but the first crop from them will produce small garlic. Softneck garlic tends to be smaller, but with a lot of cloves per bulb, and no scape. Softneck keeps better. A few garlic refuse to separate into cloves when they dry, but they are the best for planting next season.
Sometimes similar planting works with shallots.
Scallions (green bulbless onions) from the grocery, will grow and get rather big. Plant any that you don’t eat. They are almost immortal until you decide to eat them; I have some that are three years old.
A single piece of lemon grass from a Chinese grocery will also grow into a large clump in less than two years.
Regards,
Keith V.
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