Just dug up some garlic

[Mike Vogel]

I dug up Thermidrome, Rocambole and Early Wight a couple of weeks ago. Then last weekend I decided to see how the elephant garlic was doing, so i dug up one plant.

http:www.flickr.com/photo/68772211@N00/2664907619/

I've forgotten how to go about attaching links to pickies, so please, let me know if you can't access this.

mike[/url]

[Gilly C]

sorry the link does not work for me

[Mike Vogel]

I forgot to put parallel lines after the colon. And it should be "p[hotos" - I couldn't read my handwriting.

How about this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68772211@N00/2664907619/

mike

[Gilly C]

wow !!I am impressed have you used any yet ? if so how is the flavour ?

[kwa50]

I have only planted and harvested ordinary garlic and although it was such a lovely strong taste they were quite small.

I think next year I will grow some elephant garlic - when do you plant it - it is in Autumn.

kwa50
www.craftchallenge.co.uk

[Mike Vogel]

We haven't used any of it yet, but last year we enjoyed its flavour very much indeed. It is supposed to have a milder flavour than other garlics, but we thought it was pretty strong, though perhaps not quite as biting as the others.

Elephant garlic is supposedly a good one for sowing early in spring, but I sow all my garlic in the autumn and that seems to work well for me.

I got the original 3 cloves from The Garlic Farm, IOW. What I am interested to know is whether the little bulblets which appear on the side of the clove will ever be persuaded to germinate and produce a plant like its parent. If only it did, i'd have enough to be able to give mases away.

Good eating
mike

[Colin_M]

Tell us what you plan to do with your Elephants Mike. It's been a while since I grew them, but we generally just roasted them.

Any other approaches you like to do?

[Geoff]

Do you all replant your own garlic or buy fresh each year? I've just harvested about 90 reasonable Marco bulbs which is rather more than I got last year so I am wondering about replanting some. I don't want a total failure so I might still buy some. It's only my second season of garlic growing.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've been re-planting the same ones every year for about 10 years. I got the original ones from Marshall's. They've got purplish skins. I get lots of bulbs, some large, some small. They all taste good, and if you leave some of the ones in that don't divide, they usually grow into larger divided bulbs in their second year.

[Mike Vogel]

Yes, I keep a couple of bulbs each year of Thermidrome, Early Wight, Rocambole, Iberian Wight, Solent Wight and Elephant. I sow them during the last 2 weeks of October. They seem slow in appearing, but they all come up [or virtually all]. I give them a dose of ash in February.

I've dug up 10 rows, about 12 per row. I've also sowed a lot from seed around the carrot beds and they've all produced viable bulbs. At least our grown children and many friends and neighbours like the stuff!

We use the elephant garlic in the same way as other types, to flavour dishes, whether roasts or stir-fries or whatever. I've heard of them being roasted whole, but Sue doesn't fancy doing that and she's the boss when it comes to cooking. I might have a go when I'm retired.

Tomorrow I might dig up the rest of the elephants. I'm trying to get to the point where we can grow 20 of these in the year. if you ask "why stop at 20?" the answer is "I don't know - but that's about what 2 rows in our raised beds will take."

mike

[Geoff]

It looks like I'll replant some of my own this year then, thanks for the reassurance.
I have been sorting our Marco today and the wife is complaining that she won't be able to plait them because the stems are stiff. It is a hardneck but last year they were flexible. She says it is because last year she pulled the scapes (is that the right word for flowers?) whereas this year I cut them off. Is she right?

[Mike Vogel]

That's something I know nothing about, Geoff. I'd expect them to go soft if left for a bit, but I don't know that variety.

I've just finished digging the last of my Solent Wight, and a lot of them were on the small side, I think I left them in for too long.

mike