
By Mike
This year started off really well for our garlic. It was a fairly early but very dry spring. Fortunately with the straw mulch in place the garlic plots stay nice and moist. The mulch was pushed away in early May to allow more sunlight on the emerging plants. In mid-May we got a 25 degree frost. This was a good opportunity to see that even though the garlic had 1 to 3 leaves, it was unfazed by these temperatures. In early July we picked the scapes off the plants and were able to enjoy the seasonal delicacy and sell the rest. We harvested the garlic from July 31-Aug 1; a week later than last year, even though the plants had nearly a month more growing season this year.
The garlic is now safe and sound and ready for eating. (and almost gone!) This year we grew 8 varieties. We had Chesnok Red, Georgia Chrystal, Georgia Fire, German Extra Hardy, Korean Mountain, Leningrad, Music, and Russian Red. For a more detailed variety and flavor description, and availability, see our website here.
This year we were able to see the importance of garlic seed selection. For some varieties, we had planted all our available cloves. Winter survival was never an issue, even with the smallest cloves. Overall we had a 91% survival rate, which is good considering we had 4 new seed sources and it takes several years for garlic to acclimate to a new environment. The issue with planting all the cloves was that we had a wide range of harvested bulb sizes this year. We sorted by size for seed, culinary bulbs and bulk. Overall, our bulb size was quite a bit larger than what we had planted last year so we were excited about that. Some garlic, especially the Georgia Crystal was exceptionally large.
We have sold most of the garlic we set aside to sell, as well as donated some to the local food bank and the Culinary Club in Carrington. Quite a bit from each variety was also reserved to increase our seed supply for this fall. We are hoping to double our garlic quantities grown for next year and our careful selection of seed stock should mean larger bulbs for next years’ harvest. More updates as we start taste testing this year.
Garlic profiles:
Chesnok Red
Family – Purple Stripe
Flavor – Sweet, hot
Clove size – Small-Med
Description – bright red cloves, with many cloves per bulb. Good all-around garlic that tends to retain more flavor through cooking than other varieties. A staple variety for garlic lovers.
Status: In Stock
Georgia Crystal
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Hot, with good secondary flavor
Clove size – Extra large
Description – This is our biggest variety, with 4-6 great sized cloves per bulb. The initial taste is hot but it turns to a nice garlic flavor after a second or so. It gets a buttery flavor when roasted.
Status: sold out
Georgia Fire
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Very Hot
Clove Size – Medium-large
Description – Hot initial flavor, with an even hotter finish, good for salsa or other raw uses. It has a more mild (and to many, more pleasing) flavor after roasting.
Status: sold out
German Extra Hardy
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Hot and complex
Clove size – Large
Description – This generally has 4 nice size cloves per head. The flavor represents a typical style for a porcelain variety, with a fair amount of initial hotness followed by a more mellow flavor. Great all-purpose garlic.
Status: In Stock
Korean Mountain
Family – Asiatic
Flavor – Mild start, with very strong but pleasing secondary flavor
Clove size – Large
Description – This garlic is unique in our lineup in that its flavor really doesn’t kick in for 1-2 seconds. At that point its flavor is also a unique and complex mixture.
Status: sold out
Leningrad
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Hot and complex, balanced
Clove size – Large
Description – While this garlic still has a hot start, it is milder than many of our other porcelain varieties, but it has a richer flavor than our other porcelains too.
Status: sold out
Music
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Mild, Sweet
Clove size – Medium-Large
Description – This is our mildest garlic variety as far as initial burn. Because of that, you can pick up on other flavor ‘notes’ that are masked in other varieties. Generally 4 cloves per head. Good all-purpose variety
Status: In Stock
Russian Red
Family – Rocambole
Flavor – Sweet and complex, strong garlic flavor
Clove size – Medium-large
Description – While we enjoy the flavor of all our garlics, this is a personal favorite. While it’s still initially hot, it develops into a very nice, tangy sensation. Fairly short storage life (use within 3 months).
Status: sold out
This year started off really well for our garlic. It was a fairly early but very dry spring. Fortunately with the straw mulch in place the garlic plots stay nice and moist. The mulch was pushed away in early May to allow more sunlight on the emerging plants. In mid-May we got a 25 degree frost. This was a good opportunity to see that even though the garlic had 1 to 3 leaves, it was unfazed by these temperatures. In early July we picked the scapes off the plants and were able to enjoy the seasonal delicacy and sell the rest. We harvested the garlic from July 31-Aug 1; a week later than last year, even though the plants had nearly a month more growing season this year.
The garlic is now safe and sound and ready for eating. (and almost gone!) This year we grew 8 varieties. We had Chesnok Red, Georgia Chrystal, Georgia Fire, German Extra Hardy, Korean Mountain, Leningrad, Music, and Russian Red. For a more detailed variety and flavor description, and availability, see our website here.
This year we were able to see the importance of garlic seed selection. For some varieties, we had planted all our available cloves. Winter survival was never an issue, even with the smallest cloves. Overall we had a 91% survival rate, which is good considering we had 4 new seed sources and it takes several years for garlic to acclimate to a new environment. The issue with planting all the cloves was that we had a wide range of harvested bulb sizes this year. We sorted by size for seed, culinary bulbs and bulk. Overall, our bulb size was quite a bit larger than what we had planted last year so we were excited about that. Some garlic, especially the Georgia Crystal was exceptionally large.
We have sold most of the garlic we set aside to sell, as well as donated some to the local food bank and the Culinary Club in Carrington. Quite a bit from each variety was also reserved to increase our seed supply for this fall. We are hoping to double our garlic quantities grown for next year and our careful selection of seed stock should mean larger bulbs for next years’ harvest. More updates as we start taste testing this year.
Garlic profiles:
Chesnok Red
Family – Purple Stripe
Flavor – Sweet, hot
Clove size – Small-Med
Description – bright red cloves, with many cloves per bulb. Good all-around garlic that tends to retain more flavor through cooking than other varieties. A staple variety for garlic lovers.
Status: In Stock
Georgia Crystal
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Hot, with good secondary flavor
Clove size – Extra large
Description – This is our biggest variety, with 4-6 great sized cloves per bulb. The initial taste is hot but it turns to a nice garlic flavor after a second or so. It gets a buttery flavor when roasted.
Status: sold out
Georgia Fire
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Very Hot
Clove Size – Medium-large
Description – Hot initial flavor, with an even hotter finish, good for salsa or other raw uses. It has a more mild (and to many, more pleasing) flavor after roasting.
Status: sold out
German Extra Hardy
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Hot and complex
Clove size – Large
Description – This generally has 4 nice size cloves per head. The flavor represents a typical style for a porcelain variety, with a fair amount of initial hotness followed by a more mellow flavor. Great all-purpose garlic.
Status: In Stock
Korean Mountain
Family – Asiatic
Flavor – Mild start, with very strong but pleasing secondary flavor
Clove size – Large
Description – This garlic is unique in our lineup in that its flavor really doesn’t kick in for 1-2 seconds. At that point its flavor is also a unique and complex mixture.
Status: sold out
Leningrad
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Hot and complex, balanced
Clove size – Large
Description – While this garlic still has a hot start, it is milder than many of our other porcelain varieties, but it has a richer flavor than our other porcelains too.
Status: sold out
Music
Family – Porcelain
Flavor – Mild, Sweet
Clove size – Medium-Large
Description – This is our mildest garlic variety as far as initial burn. Because of that, you can pick up on other flavor ‘notes’ that are masked in other varieties. Generally 4 cloves per head. Good all-purpose variety
Status: In Stock
Russian Red
Family – Rocambole
Flavor – Sweet and complex, strong garlic flavor
Clove size – Medium-large
Description – While we enjoy the flavor of all our garlics, this is a personal favorite. While it’s still initially hot, it develops into a very nice, tangy sensation. Fairly short storage life (use within 3 months).
Status: sold out