Time to plant garlic.

[dado potato]

Every year Columbus day is when I plant garlic to harvest the following summer. It was explained to me that in the cool days and cold nights of fall a garlic clove establishes a little root system that will become dormant "in the deep midwinter", and the roots will emerge from dormancy in the spring... about the same time as the frogs.

I saved the bulbs of my most robust garlic plants this past summer, aiming for 50 cloves each of two varieties Zemo and Italian Red.

After planting I will mulch with pine needles.

Hold this moment forever, I tell myself; it may never come again. -- Pico Iyer, Autumn Light: Japan's Season of Fire and Farewells.

[razz]

I debated whether to plant garlic this fall but after I was able to buy all the garlic I could possibly want without any effort, I have decided not to in my small veggie garden. In my area, it is usually the 'music' variety that is grown. What made you choose the two that you have planted?

[dado potato]

razz:

I have deer around, and garlic is one of the few garden items they leave alone. I have grown the Music variety in the past, and it was very good. I went from Music to Zemo, because it seemed Zemo yielded larger bulbs. Later I expanded the garden area devoted to garlic, and I planted Italian Red due to its reputation for flavor.

I find that Italian Red matures faster than Zemo, and it is ready to pull while the Zemo still is green and erect. So with the 2 varieties half and half, the work of harvesting is spread over a longer period... less work per day.

As I recall I bought Zemo and Italian Red from a local grower at a farmers market. So I felt confident that the specific plants had proven themselves for the local highlands climate.

[catherine]

Are garlic bulbs I got for free from a neighbor last spring still good to plant this fall?

[razz]

The Music bulbs are small even with fertilizing etc. Will check out my Farmers' Market to see what is available. Thanks.

[catherine]

The Music bulbs are small even with fertilizing etc. Will check out my Farmers' Market to see what is available. Thanks.

Well, I just planted my Music and German White. We'll see what happens!


I will mulch, probably with leaves.

[razz]

Are garlic bulbs I got for free from a neighbor last spring still good to plant this fall?

I honestly don't have any idea of viability as my old garlic dehydrates down to nothing so I always discarded it then.

FYI re green tomatoes that I looked up for a friend:
I used to wrap mine in black and white (no colour) newspaper and store in a dark place checking every couple of days for ripe or rotting fruit.

I decided to research a bit more and made all kinds of discoveries.

Below 10C or 50F, they won't ripen. Any with frost damage must be discarded as they will rot.
Pick the green ones with their stem, wash and dry well to remove dirt, fungus etc and store on stem end. A few will ripen on a sunny window but a collection of them can be wrapped in newspaper and placed in a cardboard box or paper bag with a GREEN banana which will add ethylene to ripen them.
https://ofags.com/how-to-ripen-green-tomatoes/

 I also checked out recipes for green tomatoes and found out that fried green tomatoes are a southern dish. Don't think that I will try this.

[catherine]

I honestly don't have any idea of viability as my old garlic dehydrates down to nothing so I always discarded it then.

FYI re green tomatoes that I looked up for a friend:
I used to wrap mine in black and white (no colour) newspaper and store in a dark place checking every couple of days for ripe or rotting fruit.

I decided to research a bit more and made all kinds of discoveries.

Below 10C or 50F, they won't ripen. Any with frost damage must be discarded as they will rot.
Pick the green ones with their stem, wash and dry well to remove dirt, fungus etc and store on stem end. A few will ripen on a sunny window but a collection of them can be wrapped in newspaper and placed in a cardboard box or paper bag with a GREEN banana which will add ethylene to ripen them.
https://ofags.com/how-to-ripen-green-tomatoes/

 I also checked out recipes for green tomatoes and found out that fried green tomatoes are a southern dish. Don't think that I will try this.

Thanks for the info! This is helpful. Interesting about the green banana! As far as the fried green tomatoes, I've never had them, but I did like the movie!

[KayLR]

I guess I'm not planting this year; I forgot to order.

I had so much, though, this year I ended up pickling about half of it.

ETA: Dado, any reason you mulch with pine needles other than winter protection? I've never mulched mine. My main concern is getting the chicken wire on the beds to keep cats and other critters out of the beds all fall/winter.

[dado potato]

ETA: Dado, any reason you mulch with pine needles other than winter protection? I've never mulched mine. My main concern is getting the chicken wire on the beds to keep cats and other critters out of the beds all fall/winter.

Pine needles increase soil acidity, and garlic does well in acidic soil.
As a mulch over winter, pine needles do not compact under snow and ice, like leaves can. So spring shoots have an easy time emerging.
I have dozens of balsams on the property, so pine needles are free for the raking. I just toss out the pine cones and twigs before spreading the mulch.
In the growing season, pine needles are a pretty good barrier for retaining moisture and restraining weeds.
The color of pine needles is reddish brown. Attractive background for the green shoots and scapes of the garlic.