I took advantage of a rainy Saturday here to clean up and weigh our 2013 garlic crop, which had been curing for three weeks. Counting the scapes and green garlic I harvested earlier on, the total amount of garlic harvested this year was just over 20 pounds. Right at 17 pounds of that was the main crop of cured garlic. For the two of us, that is a lot of garlic!
garlic cloves ready for planting in November, 2012
But then, we use a lot of garlic. I looked back at the menu for the past week, and garlic figured in almost every lunch and dinner meal. It was in the chickpea burgers and in the yogurt tahini sauce I served up with them one night. It was in a marinade for pork tenderloin I grilled. It also went in a marinara sauce I made from 2012 tomatoes as we cleared out the freezer to make room for this years stuff. A garlic, herb and olive oil mix served as a sauce for pita pizzas. And garlic went in the dressing for some grilled chicken ratatouille. To finish the week, my wife made some Baba Ghanoush with a few of our Italian eggplants, and several cloves of garlic went into that. And then she made Blackened Salmon for dinner last night, and our dehydrated garlic went into the blackening mix.
Russian Red rocambole garlic
In terms of average size, a newcomer here called Russian Red made the biggest bulbs. It’s a rocambole type, and averaged in at a big 2.7 ounces per bulb. The individual cloves are big and fat too. If it tastes good, and keeps well, it will make a good addition for our garlic lineup. For reference, in all the photos that’s a U.S. quarter and an Australian fifty cent piece along with a four inch plastic label.
Pennsylvania Dutch porcelain garlic
Another newcomer was a porcelain type called Pennsylvania Dutch. It averaged 2.3 ounces each, and it has nice big bulbs too. Hopefully it will keep better than the Music variety (another porcelain type), which grows well here but usually doesn’t keep even until replanting time.
Uzbek turban garlic
But most of the ‘oldtimers’ did well this year also. I have grown a turban type called Uzbek for several years now. It is a dependable performer – not too big but not too small either. It’s not a great keeper, but should keep for five or six months. And it has a lovely flavor. It averaged 1.2 ounces per bulb.
Shilla turban garlic
The other turban types weighed in heavier, with Red Janice the biggest at 1.8 ounces each and Shilla second largest at 1.6 ounces. Both keep about the same as Uzbek.
Lorz Italian bulb right after digging
Lorz Italian is one of my favorite garlics, both for productivity and for keeping qualities. Plus it has a great taste both raw and when baked whole. It’s an artichoke type, so named because the cloves are in overlapping rows that resemble the leaves on an artichoke. It averaged 2.2 ounces per bulb. Simonetti was the largest artichoke type this year, at 2.4 ounces per bulb, but I’m not sure it is any improvement on Lorz Italian. Slow Food USA says that the Lorz family brought their garlic from their home in Italy to the Columbia River valley in the early 1900’s.
Lorz Italian artichoke garlic
Silverskin types are good keepers and I have several varieties that perform well for me. Nootka Rose is my favorite. It’s an heirloom variety from Washington state with a nice strong garlic flavor. It gets its name from the pinkish red skins that cover the easy to peel individual cloves. I had a few of the 2012 bulbs that were still good when I dehydrated them last month. Any garlic that taste great and keeps for 11 months is a real keeper!
Nootka Rose silverskin garlic
Not all the garlic did that well however. I lost all the the Chinese Purple, and only two of eight Chinese Pink made it. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I won’t plant either of them again. And I tried Persian Star one more time. It’s a purple skinned type that just does not seem to like our climate. It only averaged .75 ounces per bulb. I’m not sure if I will plant it again or not. It’s pretty to look at, but who cares about that when it comes time to eat it!
Persian Star purple stripe garlic
And the creole types struggled this year. They seem to like a warm winter like we had in 2011-12, but not the colder wetter winter that we had in 2012-13. Both Ajo Roja and Rossa di Sulmona made smaller bulbs than they did last year. But both are great keepers, lasting as long as Nootka Rose, so I will keep on planting them for another year.
Rossa di Sulmona creole garlic
I will store our garlic in a storage room we have in our basement. There is some debate on how best to store garlic, but I aim to keep it in a cool (55-65°F) and moderately moist (40-60% humidity) environment. That is what garlic expert Ron Engeland (of Filaree Farm) recommends in his book “Growing Great Garlic”. The only thing lacking in that room is good air circulation, but the garlic seems to keep well enough for me even without it.
garlic ready for storage
I hope you have enjoyed this recap of the 2013 garlic crop here at Happy Acres. To see what other gardeners are harvesting, visit Daphne’s Dandelions, where Daphne hosts the Harvest Monday series.
Oh how I wish I was as organized and methodical as you are. The garlic given to me years ago by an Ukrainian neighbor looks like your Uzbek turban garlic and it too is a good keeper. Wonder if it is the same variety.
You have a lot of nice garlic. As I have learned this year, you can use way more garlic than you think you will! I will be buying more this year!
Great garlic harvest. I really appreciate your descriptions and experiences with each variety of garlic. I planted just 2 kinds but I can see it becoming addictive.
I has surely become addictive for me! This is the first year in a long time that I am not trying a new variety (or two).
My first year try at growing garlic was an epic fail – thanks for all you great info – I will try again next year!
My goodness! What a lot of garlic. I’m really impressed with your variety and method.
Garlic seems to struggle in our rotten, dense soil. Alas.
Once again, your garlic looks amazing! You always inspire me with your organization and your harvests! Our garlic, once again, was a failure this year, but I can easily blame the chickens for it. Next year we will protect them better.
What a terrific garlic harvest! Do you pickle it too? I have been thinking of doing that with some of my excess since I just discovered pickled garlic last year.
I love pickled garlic. I usually make my Easy Refrigerator Pickled Garlic.
17 pounds of cured garlic is stupendous! I tried growing potatoes and garlic in our heavy clay soil years ago and not a single potato or garlic formed, maybe it’s time to try again since garlic is so expensive here and the potatoes not so great.
Half of my garlic was grown in a raised bed with amended soil. It grows great root crops like potatoes and garlic!
What a great selection of garlic. It has been struggling in my garden for the past few years so I feel quite fortunate to get a harvest of small heads this year. I’ll feast on it until it’s gone and I don’t think long term storage will be an issue. The funny thing is that after struggling to find a good place to store my garlic it turned out that the kitchen counter is the best spot for me.
Thanks for the analysis and recap!
Great post about garlic. I appreciate seeing all your different varieties. We have just grown one type for the last few years. But we are starting over from scratch in our new garden this year so i will have to try a few other types. I realize you save bulbs for replanting each year, but where did you get your original “seed” bulbs? I need a good source.
I got a lot of mine from Filaree Garlic Farm. Wegrowgarlic.com in Wisconsin has some good stock also. But both tend to sell out early!
I enjoyed your garlic post very much. I am especially envious of the size of the heads that you grew. The heads of my garlic are the size of one of your cloves! My garlic didn’t do all that well this year, probably due to my lack of watering. Now that I have soaker hoses, this winter’s crop should make larger heads. I really like Ajo Rojo, very pretty with great flavor. I also grew California Early and Early Italian. I had a fourth variety, Sonoran. I haven’t tried it yet, but the cloves are lovely. The heads fell apart into cloves upon harvest.
I am very impressed with your garlic harvest! It sounds like you have some great recipes. My mouth is watering!
Looks amazing! All those wonderful varieties! I harvested mine but it’s still curring – hopefully this weekend it will be cleaned and sorted out.
Wow 20 pounds of garlic. I harvest 9 pounds which is about the same as last year and kept me and my townhouse mates in garlic all year long. I used to grow more than one variety but I just couldn’t keep them labeled well. Now I just have one, German Extra Hardy. But it is a good keeper and grows well here, so it works.