Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

It’s feeling a bit like Fall here in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Time to start thinking about Fall and Winter proofing your gardens, cleaning and putting up your tools and harvesting those last but not least vine ripe tomatoes. It’s also a great time to get those cover crops and wildflower seeds in the ground while the soil is still warm enough to get the seeds to germinate and put some roots down to hold them in place for the winter. Then they are ready to “take off” when the warmth of Spring wakes them up again. Then you’ve got a great start on your garden soil building, and wildflowers will be mature enough to put on some flowers for beautiful spring and summer color! Don’t forget to plant your greens, brassicas, garlic, onions and potatoes too!

PVFS Customer Email with Staff Response

Question:

Question for you: I’ve grown garlics for many years for the Seed Savers Exchange and agree entirely with the tips given in this In the Loop release! I also have grown bunching onion, topset onion, and shallot varieties for the SSE for years, and this past year took on close to 100 additional allium and garlic varieties:

Should I provide any different care for shallots than I provide for garlics? I have experienced dwindling vigor and yields, even loss, of a few shallot varieties over the past 20-30 years, and while I will try hard to get these newly-acquired varieties out and in the hands of other growers as quickly as possible, I really need to find out what is causing them (and topsetting onions) to decline and fail over time in my garden, while garlics and bunching onions thrive. [I took on Louis VanDeven's collection last summer, close to 100 alliums and garlics, when at 89 he feared he would not be able to continue to maintain them. He passed away this summer, knowing that only two varieties had not survived the move, and all the others had produced a healthy abundant yield in their new home....]

Answer:

The first thought that comes to mind is, Are you using a three-year crop rotation and not planting the shallots (any alliums) in the same place every year? The second thought is if you have had a soil test done to see what nutrients are missing form the soil? Also, I would check with your county agricultural office as they may have been asked this information from other farmers in your area. Other farmers would be another source.

It sounds like you have something pretty special and I hope you find the information you need!

I just pulled a number of volunteer garlic and I noticed small bulblets growing outside/under the larger cloves. Can I propagate from these?

I recently harvested my garlic for the year and a majority of my bulbs were quite small. I followed all growing directions I could find, used large cloves, mulched, weeded, etc. but still got this result. Any suggestions?

Question from a customer:

Hi There,

Regarding curing garlic, is it OK to cut off the roots and/or the tops right after you dig it and then cure it on screens in the shade? Is it OK (will it continue to gain flavor) to cut off the roots and braid the soft neck varieties a day or so after it is dug? I want to gain as much flavor as possible but would like to get it ready as soon as possible after being dug.

Answer:

I don’t think it matters much if you cut the roots off after digging, but it is probably best to keep the tops (or most of the top) attached while you cure the garlic. Most growers think that the garlic head absorbs more nutrient from the top as it cures. If you are going to braid the garlic, you certainly don”t want to cut off the tops anyway. Usually, the garlic is cured for several days before you braid them and once braided you need to make sure there is good air circulation around the garlic, as it finishes curing. The curing process is probably 2-4 weeks, depending on temps and humidity.

Question:

I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico at 7000 feet altitude, about 13″ natural rainfall a year. I do all my organic vegetable gardening in raised boxes because of gophers. We have fairly mild winters, some snow but usually not heavy. I am wondering what garlics you would recommend for my climate, I would like to get a few different ones to try. Do you have an article on picking the right garlics for your climate/conditions or doesn’t it really matter?
Thanks!

Answer:

Generally, hardnecks are better for variable climates, softnecks are better for mild climates (like Southern California).  Check out this link from the University of New Mexico for more info.  I’d also suggest you contact the Master Gardeners in your area for more local advice as far as which specific varieties to choose.

Hope that helps and thank you for growing organically!

Customer Email – PVFS staff response.

Question:

Hi everyone at Peaceful Valley –

I’ve grown your wonderful Music hardneck garlic for a few years but this year most of my heads have turned brown, although they did grow scapes, and upon pulling them up they smell funny and have no roots!  Wonder what is going on.  Any ideas?

No sign of rodent or insects.

Would like to hear from you in this regard.  – No hurry.

Many thanks.

Answer:

Hi Judy,

Two possibilities came to mind when reading about your garlic. Could they have been standing in water for an extended period? The forming bulb may have had enough energy to produce a scape before it rotted.

The other possibility is that a soil born disease affected your garlic. Have you been rotating your garlic crop? Most garlic growers use a minimum 3-year rotation. Did you use saved seed-garlic?

Hope my questions help,

Some of the tops of my garlic are beginning to yellow, so I decided to harvest a few sample heads. This was my first time growing garlic, so I was delighted when I actually pulled up a head of garlic (and not the single clove I planted in the fall).

After pulling up this sampling, I reviewed the instructions:

Harvesting & Storing
When the garlic leaves begin to turn yellow (around July), stop irrigating for 2 weeks and then pull up the plant. Immediately place plants in a shady place to cure. Regardless of what you read elsewhere, do not leave your garlic in the sun because it will sunburn and rot. A good way to cure garlic is to tie it in bunches or braid it (if it is a soft neck garlic) and hang it in a dark place where it will receive good air circulation. Cure Elephant garlic for thirty days before eating it. “Green” Elephant garlic is bitter, but it becomes milder with age. Standard garlic takes less time to cure and becomes stronger tasting with age. Hard neck varieties generally will only store for 6 months or less. You can store your garlic in mesh bags (like onion sacks) in a cool dry area. The optimum storage temperature is 50°F, and the relative humidity should be below 60%. If some of your bulbs turn out onion-like (do not divide into cloves) you can eat them or use them as seed for next year.

I don’t mean to be a Blog-hog this week, but I’m planting my garlic today and this issue has come up all spring every year in the nearly five years I’ve worked at PVFS. We have so many customers that come in or call in and want to know when they’re allowed to pull up their garlic. They’re in shock when I tell them that they can go get it any time they want. When my children were small and we didn’t have money for food, and only a little spot for a garden, and we moved constantly, I became quit adept at MOBILE GARDENING. That is digging up starts and transplanting them in my new yard. I can also clean out my entire house and move it all in one fell swoop in less than a day but that’s a different story!

Anyway for several years I rarely lived anywhere long enough for garlic to mature so we acquired a taste for green garlic. I like it so much better than the cured stuff that I actually plan for it now and only cure that which I plan to plant for next year if I can stand to leave that much.

We are garlicaholics. I always end up buying a different variety or two or more when we get it in around here. This year I’m trying German White in my Calif. yard and Cold Hardy Music in my Nevada yard.

I still move around a lot but mostly just between two houses these days. I also keep a potted herb garden (which includes potted Garlic) for our motor-home.

Anyway all this to tell you that I plant the big cloves in a spot that I won’t need for spring starts so that they can get big and ripe and I don’t dig that up until its fully mature and ready to cure. But everyone around work here eats the small cloves and well quite frankly that just doesn’t make sense to me. I plant all the little ones around the edges of my raised beds, even sometimes where I still have things growing, and when I pull things up and plant my winter stuff I know where to stay away from.

These little sweeties (or should I say hot mamas) can emerge at any time because they are shallower than the big cloves. Sometimes they stay there for another year and spread which makes me very happy because whenever I need garlic I just go out and dig some up!

The “Down To Earth Rose Flower And Bulb Food” is great for root crops and can be added any time since I have no particular EHT (estimated harvest time) for this crop. If you do find yourself pulling up stakes and finding a new habitation, just dig the edges of the beds and toss the green cloves or sprouts in a brown bag or pack them all in a recyceled black pot. They will stay good for weeks in there in a cool place with a little compost or moist dirt until you can figure out where their new home will be and then whoosh, they’re off and running again.

Everyone marvels at the size of my elephant garlic. One year I had a 3+ lb bulb. I have a permanent spot for it now because at this point it would be difficult to find all the little side bulbs that shed from the large ones when they’re dug. So I have a constant harvest of both hot green regular garlic and the milder more oniony flavored elephant garlic. I find it easier to grow than shallots and it makes a good substitute for them in recipes. If you’ve never tried green garlic and especially if you’re not a garlicaholic go easy on it in your recipes. A little bit will go a very long way.

A customer read about some delicious, hard-to-find, garlic varieties in a magazine. She discovered we carried these gourmet varieties and order a pound each of Purple Mexican, Late White, and Chesnok Red garlic and eagerly awaited their arrival. After only receiving one of the three pounds of garlic she called our office today and the highlight of the conversation that followed made our day:

Customer: “I was coveting that garlic so much I had started to wonder if my postman stole it!”
Customer Service: (after much laughter) “Only if he’s an avid gardener.”

We know how amazing this garlic is to grow and eat!