Garlic for 2024, one new variety this year

[larry_stewart]

Still haven't picked my garlic yet, but I've been watching it VERY CLOSELY since I've had problems with drainage in the past few years causing a percentage to be water logged and not goof for storage. Due to the extended heat wave, it's been very hot with no, or minimal rain the past week. I was away for 2 days , so I was contemplating picking them before we left, but the lower leaves haven't browned as much as I'd like for them to be ready or full size. I'll check them ( when the sun comes up today) to see how much has changed ( or not) and make a decision as to when I'll harvest. It has always been a family tradition to harvest on July 4th, but due to the drainage issues and maybe cause the summers appear earlier, longer and hotter, we've been harvesting about 2 weeks earlier than that in recent years. hoping for a good, water-logged -free year this year.

Harvested a few kirbies a few days ago before we left. A week or two earlier than previous years. There were some borderline ones still on the vine. Ill check today, hoping they're not too big, or bigger than I like.

Picked about 2 quarts of string beans before we left, which is about a week earlier than usual.

Currants are in full production mode, will pick them today.

I also picked 2 banana peppers ( one from each plant) before we left, and ate both of them to test their heat. Lat year, I planted , what I thought were 4 banana pepper plants, just to find out they were something much hotter. Found out the hard way. There were also a few shishito's out there that I left on the plat to pick when I got back ( today)

Also and eggplant ( Ichiban) that was about 6 inches long before we left. This is also kinda early for me with eggplants. The plants also look pretty healthy other than a few holes in the leaves. In recent past, I've been getting some kind of wilt on my eggplants, which curls the leaves, forces them to drop, and shortens the lifespan of the plants.

Bunch of green tomatoes, which other than very early varieties, won't ripen for a few more weeks.

Onions Noticeably starting to bulb.

 

[pepperhead212]

Today was a nice day, finally, and I took the 4 types of garlic, plus the small amount of Metechi, I filled up 4 and 7 spots I didn't have enough Estonian Reds or Georgian Fires to fill the rows. I saved the largest of the different varieties, the two largest were Misics, which are huge single cloves, looking like onions! The Bogotyr is a new variety for me this year, and a lot are fairly large, double cloves, most of which I saved, for fall planting.
Georgian Fire, the least of any of the varieties this year, but a couple the largest of any of them. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Estonian Red, saved the largest of the batch to plant again in the fall, the rest I'll use first. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Bogotyr, the new one I have the most of this year. Many are smaller, but with only 2 cloves each, which are fairly large. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Music, most uniform heads. 2, however, were huge, single cloves, which I will plant, in the fall, with the other largest cloves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[larry_stewart]

They look perfect !

 

[dragnlaw]

I only just cut our scapes today. Probably should have done it a couple of days, maybe a week(?) ago. Left a few and out of more than 60/70 plants my arms were full and dropping them on the way back to the house.
Out of that large stack, they trimmed down to this...

I'll fine chop some I guess but have no idea what to do with the rest. Of course, 1/2 goes upstairs but not sure even she knows what she wants to do with them.
Her first year with them they made pesto but it was so strong they couldn't eat it. Think she got a bit turned off on them.
I might keep some in one or 2 inch pieces to throw into stir fries? Been told to also just fine chop and use in place of garlic itself?

 

[blissful]

@dragnlaw , chop and dehydrate and powder to use as a mild garlic seasoning. Or pickle them in a brine you like, dill or sweet. Or saute pieces in a stir fry or soup or stew. Freeze them to use later.
I can't remember if it is true of scapes, but a pesto made with garlic bulbs/cloves will take a day or two to tame down the strong flavor. The method of crushing/chopping them sets off the 'hot reaction', but that gets mild in a day or two.

 

[pepperhead212]

@dragnlaw I have used the scapes in a number of Asian things, in place of garlic - usually I use about 1½ times the amount of garlic cloves, since it's a little weaker, with more water in it. I used it most recently in that Nahm Jeem Gratiem, and before that the Nam Prik Pao, both of which were almost identical to that with garlic cloves. And I made some garlic/ginger paste, often used in Indian cooking (and I would never recommend the stuff sold in jars!), and I often use this in Szechwan foods, as well. I make it in a blender, and store in a mason jar in the freezer - it thaws enough in a couple of minutes, to scoop out enough with a spoon to use, then put back in the freezer. However, like when making things with lemongrass, I slice the stalks very thin, to cut through the fibers; otherwise, if left longer, some can stay whole in a blender or processor, and just bounce around or ball up. That reminds me of another thing I've made with these that was delicious - Thai Curry Paste. Something I'm almost out of now, so I'll be making some, and the scapes are especially good in the green paste, for the color.