Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Our son proudly marches off with a giant head of elephant garlic!

For having planted a garlic combo pack last Fall, I was very pleased with the size of our first-ever garlic harvest (there are some French Red Shallots in there too).

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.

We planted shallots last fall. Now seed heads have developed. Should we do anything about that? When is the proper time to harvest shallots?

I had a customer ask me the other day in the store how one clove of garlic makes a whole bulb and all I could think to answer at the moment was “Why that’s the miracle of life!”

I think he wanted a little more scientific explanation at first but seemed highly satisfied with my answer.

I have never planted a Hubbard squash in my garden but every year for the past 3 years I have had these magnificent squash miraculously appear in my garden.  I harvested around 10 of these giant, blue beauties each weighing around 20 pounds each. The flavor is unmatched in the squash world.  The seeds must have originally gotten into my compost.

I don’t really care how they got there all I know is  that this garden is a miracle and I am grateful for its tasty abundance.

(Image borrowed from flickr, creative commons license allows public use)

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.

Driving to work at Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply, my shoulders tighten, my stomach churns, my stress level seems to rise.  I am listening to the news and, like many others, wondering about my children’s tomorrow.

I walk into work – in my case, the Peaceful Valley retail store.  I am soon decompressing the news with my co-worker, Kathleen, and just talking about it as we count our register drawers makes me realize I’m not so alone in this economic/political/social dilemma.  Before long, we have the lights on, the curtains up, the fountain flowing and the customers to consult and serve.

Within a very brief time, my shoulders are dropping, my stomach is hungry (if anything),  my stress level is nowhere worth measuring (well, unless we experience a customer rush and everyone is paying in large bills).  PVFS is about the here and now.  Today we need to stock up on BT – the catepillars are running rampant.  Omega is flying off the shelves (when doesn’t it?) – everyone wants blooms, or growth, or vigor!  Shade cloth, bamboo stakes, garlic…my cash register sales are testimony to what we gardeners need in the present.  Today there are actions and products that will create tangible results tomorrow or next week.  Today, the incredibly beautiful bulbs on the PVFS shelves are the promise for my kids’ tomorrow - next Spring.

Working at Peaceful Valley helps me attain what we are so often advised for our well-being – living in the moment.  Soon enough, I’ll be driving home, with the news on and tomorrow’s bigger problems will creep back into my reality  If I’m lucky, tomorrow I’ll be back at my register at PVFS, concentrating on what is actually important and gaining a healthier perspective.

It was a slightly cloudy, pre-fall day in the order department. A subtle breeze moved past the window at the back of my cubicle, rustling the leaves of the trees. I suddenly noticed that the odor derived from multiple nights of eating employee gifted garlic, roasted with olive oil and a pinch of salt, had made its mark, filling my breath and clothes with its pungent aroma. One of the many perks of working customer service behind the great distance of a phone line, is that I and my fellow office mates were the only ones who could smell it. With October just weeks away, and Halloween here before too long, I had no fear of vampires. And then the phone rang.

“Hello, this is Andrew, how may I help you” I rattled off as I had hundreds of times before.

“I would like to place an order” a woman’s soft voice filled the speaker of my headset. “I would like to order some garlic” she said.

I silently rolled my eyes, my stomach churning from the remnants of the sacrificial bulbs which still sat dissolving in my stomach. I filled out her order form asking the regular questions, and then finished up tallying her shipping and figuring out her shipment date. We entered her credit card information and I then began the concluding statement that usually ends the call, “May I help you with anything else?”

“Actually,” the woman’s charming voice lowered a bit, gaining an eerie note of subtext. “Have you ever heard of planting with the phases of the moon?” Her inquisition set me off guard.

“Yes, I have, in a college class about the pre-colonial Aztecs.”

She continued, “Well, does it work?”

“I am not sure.” I said, “But I don’t see why not, the moon supposedly influences the tides of the oceans, why wouldn’t it have an effect on the water and growth of plants or roots?”

“We shall see my sweet.” She cackled slightly, as her voice trailed off and the receiver went dead.

((This story is based on an actual call received in the order department. My name has not been changed, mostly because it is attached to this post anyway, and everything said in this post is reasonably accurate to the actual occurrence, except the last line where the customer called me “her sweet” and cackled.))

If you are interested in planting by the phases of the moon see the following sites:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/868/

http://www.gardeningbythemoon.com/phases.html

http://kaykeys.net/spirit/earthspirituality/moon/moonseed.html

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!

There seems to be a very obvious cycle about garlic. As we harvest the garlic we planted last fall, its time to think about any new varieties we might want to try this fall.

Garlic is easy to grow since most of its time in the ground is during our rainy season and, after you mulch it for winter, can pretty much be ignored. About the time the scapes (flowers) begin to develop in spring, the weeds start to grow and need to be removed as garlic does not develop well with all that competition. Have you ever eaten garlic scapes? Since you have to remove them when they begin to curl, you might as well cook them. Grilled or sautéed, they have a nice, mild garlic flavor. Just use the tender part as you would asparagus and they store in the fridge at least a month.

Back to the garlic bulb, here are the basics. We sell 2 basic types of garlic – hard neck & soft neck. Hard neck garlic usually has larger cloves, which are easier to peel, but they don’t store a tremendously long time. Soft neck garlic has a larger quantity of smaller cloves, they’re a bit harder to peel, but they keep a long time. These are also the ones you can braid & hang in your kitchen. I usually plant both types, using the hard necks first.

Garlic is planted in the fall. Separate the cloves but you don’t need to remove the papery skin around each clove. Plant, pointy end up, within 5 days at a depth about double the size of the clove. Deeper if you’re in a very cold location. Water-in and moisten frequently till the rain starts. Once the soil cools off, mulch with a few inches of rice straw. That’s it for fall.

When the soil begins to warm in spring, watch for the growing tips. (Sometimes they’ll start in the fall if you plant early and the soil is still warm.) Cover with more straw to protect from frost – you may need to do this 3-4 times. This is also the best way to keep the weeds down.

It’s time to harvest when about ½ the leaves turn yellow or brown. This usually happens in my yard about the end of June, but this year its about 2 weeks later. Stop watering so the soil can dry a little. Don’t leave them in the ground too long after you stop watering as the papery skin will start to deteriorate and the bulbs won’t store as well. Try not to poke them with your digging fork as this can introduce disease and again, affects storage.
Place them in a cool, darkish location to cure, usually about a moth. We have a huge, low-limbed Butternut that shelters our garlic. If curing outside, be prepared to cover your garlic with plastic if it rains. It seems like it always rains once in July, after we’ve harvested. If you want to taste your garlic while its still green, you can, just not with Elephant Garlic. Once cured, keep in a cool, dry location, inside. Yes, garlic freezes and turns to mush.

Enjoy your garlic. Not only does it taste good, but its good for you!

Ps. Be sure to get additional info on fertilizing, cover-cropping the garlic area and rotating beds next season.

New this year, Peaceful Valley is offering a Garlic Combo Pack for only $29.99! It is comprised of 3 cloves of Elephant, 3 heads of CA Early White (sotneck), 3 heads of Music (hardneck), 3 heads of Chesnok Red (hardneck), and 3 sets of French Red Shallots.

Since we started offering it for sale over 5 years ago, garlic has proven itself time and time again to be one of our most popular fall products. Affordable, relatively easy to grow and well loved by many; garlic is a worthy addition to any garden.

This year, we have a “bumper crop,” if you will, offering more than a dozen different varieties (most of them organic!), with types suitable for nearly all tastes and growing conditions.

For the beginning garlic grower, you can’t go wrong with the old standby: California Late White (or Early White, which is quite similar). Both of these are the types you will typically find in your local grocery store, and are perfect to help ease yourself into the wide world of garlic growing.

For the more adventurous types, you can choose from some amazing varieties for all palates – you can try Music for a great flavor, Chesnok Red is great for those seeking a more full-bodied taste, or for the truly daring of tongue, Bogatyr will challenge your taste buds to a duel.

Plant in Fall, and you can expect a crop of fresh, tasty garlic in late Spring. You will yield tremendous results – one clove will net one new bulb, which can turn around and be replanted for the next year’s crop. And, best of all, our seed garlic can also be eaten right away. Buy an extra pound or two for cooking or baking over the winter, while your crop grows, and make those Gilroy folks jealous over your new plants!

Get your order in now, for shipping in late August.

Every year, we run out of several varieties before we even receive our stock in our warehouse. Don’t miss out on your chance to get the best types!

Browse And Pre-Order Our Garlic Varieties.

Posted by Chad Silverstein, Call Center PVFGS