Short intro: My first attempt at growing garlic was Sept '16 with a 4-variety "for the South" assortment from The Garlic Store. I got to choose four out of a goodly list of varieties. I followed their growing directions to the letter and also researched other methods online, all of which led to a pretty successful crop for two of the four varieties; 'Maiskij' (the better of the two) and 'Scilla', both hardneck Turban types.
Something must have been done right with the curing and storage because this past September I had enough successfully saved back to replant. They're looking fine right now, about 60 Maiskij, 25 Scilla and 11 "WalMart Specials". The WalMarts came from two big beautiful bulbs in the grocery section. I had never seen such big pretty bulbs there before so I bought two and planted them. Hey, my first effort was good so now I'm golden in my efforts, right?
Right now the garlic plants are starting to shoot up numerous narrow leaves. They did this last year and I don't know what it means. Here's a pic:
The ones in the foreground happen to be the Walmarts which are showing this the heaviest. The Maiskij in the background are just starting.
Question: What does this mean in the life cycle of garlic? Does it indicate the initiation of clove differentiation? Or adding more skin layers? I can't find any information online about this. It's gotta mean something.
Question: How died back do you let the leaves get before harvest? Not knowing this past spring I pulled one when the leaves were about half brown and the head hadn't started "cloving" yet. From reading other posts here in Alliums, I think you're calling that a round? I let the garlic go until, when I stuck a finger down in the soil and felt the head, I could feel individual cloves. I want to maximize head size but don't want to let them go too long and start separating.
Question: What kind of pest makes small pinholes in cured heads, resulting in that particular clove (and maybe its neighbor too) browning up inside the head? I did an initial cure of the pulled heads mid May by putting them on a screen for about three days under an open air pole shed and then tied them in bundles to hang there for two weeks. Then I took the bundles into the house and hung them in a closet from the clothes bar where they stayed until replanting. Most all of them were totally fine except for those few with those pinholes. Since I couldn't find anything like that online I'm thinking it might be something that's not specific to garlic but which will mess with it if given the opportunity. I need to prevent it.
Question: How old do heads have to be to have the clove's skins loosen when a clove is smacked on the cutting board or is it variety specific? The garlic was pulled mid May and by August I was cooking with those heads not selected for replanting. Those skins just didn't want to part with their cloves! And the skins were thin, too. A lot more than their grocery store cousins. Tedious peeling.
I think that's all the questions I have for now ("Geez! How many questions can she
have?"). There's one more lurking about back in the brain's stacks but it refuses to come forward right now so if it surfaces later, I'll add to this post.
Any help y'all can give will be very much appreciated! I've been gardening for years but alliums are a new adventure for me.
BTW, Thank you to TomNJ for your suggestion in another thread about chopping and freezing garlic in freezer bags in 1/4" thick mini-slabs where it's easy to break off what you want to use. Genius! From this first ever crop I experimented; thinly sliced it, dehydrated it and then whizzed it into garlic powder. Great stuff! MUCH better than store bought. I keep it in the freezer so it doesn't clump up. Slicing was another tedious chore but I have since bought a little Zyliss garlic slicer (think mini mandoline) so I'm ready to breeze through that chore this year.
