Sold Out!

Now we can concentrate on planting garlic! (My husband and son are separating the bulbs into cloves right now, while watching football.)
Thank you to everyone who came to visit and buy garlic. It was a such a pleasure meeting so many fellow garlic lovers and gardeners. We look forward to seeing you next season. We'll be at market in April selling vegetable plants for your home garden. Then we'll have scapes in June and garlic bulbs in late July.

Will be selling garlic tomorrow (10/27) 8am til noon

We have the same garlic types as last week, but just 50 or so bulbs of each type. We'll be at market tomorrow at least until noon and then may pack up and go home. Brave the cold and come early! It will be in the 20's or colder first thing- so I may look like the Michelin man in my big black down jacket and 12 layers of clothes!
Denverites needing market info see boulderfarmers.org

Color Codes for garlic sold in October

Inchelium Red - RED This is the long-storing white softneck that is sweet and delicious.
Chesnok Red- PINK, Shantung Purple- PURPLE, Dukanskij- BROWN, Shatili- BLACK, Tzan- YELLOW
Rose du Lautrec - TURQUOISE. This one is the very longest storing and tastes fabulous. It is originally from a farmer's market in France and is one of the loveliest garlics ever with small cloves that are gorgeous pink. Although it is hard to peel (part of being long-storing) it is a great garlic to have at this time of year. Check out the previous post on Rose du Lautrec from 9/2/10.

We will be at market October 13th- will you? Our 2nd to last market

Tomorrow's forecast: mostly cloudy, cool and breezy.  We will be there selling garlic and there will be a fair selection for eating or planting. Dress warmly and enjoy a Fall market that may not be as crowded! I think we will probably sell out next week, the 20th.

Not at market this weekend- See you next Saturday

We will skip tomorrow's cold (and snowy?) market but will be back on Saturday, October 13th. Hope to see you then!

Detailed Planting Instructions- Plant before Thanksgiving

HOW TO PLANT GARLIC

Plant garlic in mid-October up to Thanksgiving (earlier for high elevations.) The idea is for the roots to start growing in the warm soil while not having the tops grow. However some years the tops do come up in November and the garlic does fine anyhow.

Choosing Garlic to plant- Start with locally grown garlic, adapted to our environment. Garlic from California or China or other parts of the world may not grow well here. It also may have been treated with an anti-sprouting agent. Our bulbs average 8 plantable cloves per bulb. 10 bulbs would plant 80 heads. After your first crop, keep the best garlic to replant in your garden.

Site Selection and preparation- Choose a site with full sun and good access to water. Garlic is not too finicky about soil, but it will grow larger with good amended soil. Use organic amendments and/ or cover crops to enrich the soil 3-4 weeks before planting garlic. For fertility and soil health we plant cover crops from organic seed. The last crop is tilled in a month before planting. Our plots are rotated yearly, with cover crops grown on them in between planting years.

Garlic not storing as long as usual

The early harvest and hot, dry summer are taking a toll on the garlic this year. Some garlic that is usually rock-hard at this time of year is starting to feel a bit soft. We have it stored in a root cellar, covered in burlap to keep in some moisture. Even with that it looks like the garlic will dry out earlier than usual. Check your stored garlic often to check for softness. When a clove or two feels soft that usually means the bulb won't store too much longer.

What to do with soft garlic

You can pull off just the soft cloves and use those in cooking-they're still yummy, just not as crispy. To rehydrate soft cloves just put in in some hot water for a while, or microwave in water for a few seconds. You may also want to process some with olive oil and freeze in cubes or packets for later cooking. You can plant soft garlic, even if it has no skin. It will rehydrate in the soil.

Sprouting garlic

Our Turban type of garlics (Tzan, Shantung Purple, Uzbek Turban) are unusual in that they stay firm for a long time, but sprout early. You can use the sprouted garlic (with or without the green sprout) just fine, and some of the bulbs may still store for a long time with one sprouted clove. Just squeeze the bulbs once in a while to check for firmness.
How to store your garlic for the winter
I recommend a cool place such as a basement, cold closet, or garage (if it doesn't freeze in there). Room temperature works fine too- just be sure to keep it away from the heat of the stove and out of direct sunlight. Storing in a paper bag is ideal- it keeps in some moisture but the garlic can still breathe.

Can I store it in the fridge?

Although I haven't tried it myself (too much!) a few reliable sources have said it works well. Keep it in a paper bag in the vegetable bin.

Seed garlic running low

All of the publicity we have gotten lately has been great (2 stories in the Camera last week, one in the Denver Post on 9/8)! So many people want to plant garlic in their gardens for the first time. It's exciting and sales have been super. We are running low on larger garlic, and on many varieties.
Luckily we have plenty of the 2 most popular garlic types: Chesnok Red and Inchelium Red and will probably have those for at least 3 more weeks.
Chesnok Red is the strong flavored hardneck that is great for sauteeing, roasting, marinating, tomato sauce, pickling and all sorts of cooking. We have a good supply of Chesnok Red for eating and for planting. It has always grown well here at WeeBee Farms and usually stores til December.

Chesnok Red garlic bulb

A little trivia about Chesnok Red- "Chesnok" is the word for garlic in Russian. Chesnok Red is a highly medicinal type of garlic with its very high content of Allicin.


Inchelium Red is a mild and sweet softneck that tastes really good in just about anything and grows extremely well. It's consistently good-sized, always good-tasting and is a long-storing type that usually stores til January.

Boulder Daily Camera story about garlic

                         (photo by Craig Walker, Denver Post)
this came out on September 12th
http://www.dailycamera.com/lifestyles/ci_21525284/boulder-county-farmer-explains-mysteries-garlic?IADID=Search-www.dailycamera.com-www.dailycamera.com

Denver Post Article

Thank you to all of you who saw the article in today's Denver Post and came by to visit and buy garlic! It was great to see so many of you who adore garlic as much as I do and plan to plant it in your garden this Fall.
If you missed me today, stop by next Saturday at the Boulder Farmer's Market between 8am and 2pm. http://www.boulderfarmers.org/  My stand is located in the middle section of the market on the East side. I will be selling garlic there every Saturday until it is sold out which usually happens sometime in October.