Quote:
Originally Posted by joseph
My brother grows garlic perennially: By that I mean, it stays in the ground permanently, and if he wants garlic he digs some up. It grows fine that way. He is in zone 4, so things may be different in other zones, but it works for him. The plants start growing when they want to, and rest when they need to.
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i never heard of such a thing, i'd expect the bulbs to rot. they must have burst their wrappers as they'll grow to do that when you harvest them too late ie if you just left them in the ground vs digging them. i'm not saying you're wrong just this is another odd thing i've read in this thread!
linda,
i bought what looked and felt like good bulbs via mail in aug 2010 or 2011 from someone but by oct they were crappy dried out bulbs! i was pi$$ed to say the least! i planted the best of them but normally i wouldn't have planted them except i really wanted to try those varieties and it was not possible to get any garlic in october. the results were lousy. just about every bulb was very very small and not the best quality. taste may have been ok that i don't recall. so if you have access to new stock from this summer i'd use them and the heck with year old cloves.
if the wrapper on the cloves are loose they are drying out. if the bulb is drying out it'll be soft not firm to the squeeze. soft not cuz the cloves are soft but rather the paper wrapper on the bulb and cloves is loose as the cloves shrunk when they dry out.
if you like music (a porcelain type) i suggest trying rocambole types such as german red. rocamboles don't store as long as porcelains but have much better flavor. i get around the "not storing them as long" by freezing them when they start to go downhill usually about late december early january. they are fine when defrosted just a little soft but still good.
tom