Garlic matters.

General tips / questions on seeding & planting

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Ricard with an H
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Each of the last three years I good crops of garlic sown in the autumn. I didn't sow garlic last autumn because of moving beds around and sowing green manures.

Right now I have hundreds of healthy cloves of a soft neck type, presumably they will be fine to sow during spring or even now under cover.

Do I avoid planting the small cloves rather choosing the huge fat ones for planting, has anyone done a comparison test to see if the smaller cloves produce small garlic heads ?

Three years ago I started with two heads of soft neck, I use garlic a lot but still have enough cloves to plant out the whole six raised beds if I wanted to. I can't give it away because my garlic always looks scruffy compared to store-bought garlic.
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peter
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More infusions?

Get a dehydrator, not sure how well garlic would do, but dried garlic is a commercial offering. Mind you whetever you dried it would be vampire proof! :D
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Ricard with an H
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Thanks Peter.

I had limited success with drying though I stumbled into someone who insisted French Tarragon is best dried when I had already taken advise on freezing it. Frozen French Tarragon is perhaps 70% as good as fresh. Dried Tarragon (That I dried) is very poor and doesn't taste like Tarragon.

To be honest I have so much garlic a can afford to be picky or spread it all over parts of my body in the hope that it will put lead in my pencil or help me to live until I'm 120.

I'll stick to things like covering our lamb roast with garlic, roasting my spuds with garlic, garlic toast, garlic soup, (Recommended for sore throats) garlic with my cabbage, garlic in my mushroom stroganoff, masses of garlic on my pizza and so-on.

You get the picture.

It's just fantastic to not ever run out of garlic though a little sad when I offer a bag full to friends and they look down their nose at the scruffy and dirty outer skin.

Do you people manage to produce clean and sparkling white garlic like store-bought ?

Each time I harvest garlic I have some soil residue that sticks to the heads, I let this dry whilst the tops are drying then shake it off when it's ready but a lot stays on. Once they are peeled it's not an issue.

Even my partner comments on my scruffy garlic. :(
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
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Motherwoman
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My garlic is scruffy, I think it keeps better if you don't peel off too many layers before storing. Nice cloves inside though. I did have quite a few small 'self-seeders' from last year, must have missed a few, and they were small and scruffy and swines to peel so they got a quick outside cleanup and chucked into the roasting tin on a Sunday with the meat. Then when it came to making gravy in the tin I just squashed them along with the onion etc that I put in the tin. It goes through a sieve before going into a jug so no problem! Great flavour.

Not sure about having a rub down with the stuff though.... :shock:

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Stab a leg of lamb repeatedly with a small sharp knife, vegetable knife perhaps, then poke thick slices, halves, of garlic cloves into the cuts one after another until the length of the cut is full. Rub the outside of the leg with herbs, sea salt and garlic.

Works best when cooked to a well done state with crispy outside. :D
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Geoff
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I live the life of a batchelor so having all this plot to grow stuff on is more about pandering to my wants rather than needs. I love growing stuff but for one bloke with a weekend visitor it doesn't make sense though I'm going to do it and with another few years of improving things.


To be honest I have so much garlic a can afford to be picky or spread it all over parts of my body in the hope that it will put lead in my pencil or help me to live until I'm 120.

I'll stick to things like covering our lamb roast with garlic, roasting my spuds with garlic, garlic toast, garlic soup, (Recommended for sore throats) garlic with my cabbage, garlic in my mushroom stroganoff, masses of garlic on my pizza and so-on.


Well there you have it.
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Ricard with an H
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I just this last-hour learnt something, you don't have to leave the skin on the garlic cloves to get that roasted garlic that you can spread on things.

Previously I just bunged the unpeeled cloves into silver foil then roasted for 20 minutes. When the garlic cloves come out I squeezed the sloppy-juicy stuff out of the skins onto my toast or into a bread recipe or-whatever but with my scruffy garlic the scruffy bits get into that juicy garlic slurry.

Thank you Peter for your recommendation, I did do this as de-riguer. This time I spread roasted garlic over the top and underside of our roast onto the meat.

I'll let you know if it's easier or a disasaaaaaaster later.
How are you supposed to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle if it completely removes a wine lover’s reason to live?
Richard.
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