Last Day for WeeBee Farms is October 2nd!

There is still some garlic left this Saturday. I will be selling a lot of Jumbo Size heads of German Extra Hardy, which I had saved to plant, but don't have enough room for. These are $1.75 each. Buy them to eat or plant. I will also have some Inchelium Red which stores til January and Chesnok Red- the best garlic to saute with. I have a few Shantung purple which is very spicy and pungent, some variety bags and $5 bags of smaller heads.

German Extra Hardy is named for it's ability to grow well in cold temperatures. Last winter it got down to 17 below in December here, and it grew better than ever- with the help of a lot of snowpack and good moisture. It's my overall favorite garlic- as many of you know- because I eat it raw on crackers (sliced very thin) or for pesto, hummus, or mixed with Avocado. It's also perfect for fresh tomato sauce, put in at the end.
This garlic has huge cloves and is very easy to peel- which makes it a shorter storing garlic. It's best to plan on eating it before November.

Planting

Check out the planting instructions below.

Use Our Garlic For Planting!

Plant garlic in mid-October (earlier for high elevations.) Select largest cloves from largest bulbs.

How To Plant- Plant in good enriched soil in full sun. Separate cloves, plant each clove 2 to 2 1/2” deep, and 5” to 7” apart, with the pointy end up. Use only large cloves. Don't worry if the cloves are soft or have no skins. Mulch 2” to 4” with straw or grass clippings (no herbicides or pesticides.) Water very well after planting- we water for several hours.

Care & Feeding- Fertilize green shoots 2-3 times in March to May with fish emulsion or other high nitrogen fertilzer. Water well in late February and throughout Spring unless we have a wet winter. Keep well-watered in May & June. For hardnecks clip central seed stalk (called scapes) when they make a loop, or shortly afterwards (usually in June.)
You will usually see the green leaves poking up in February or March.

Harvest- Dig up when half of the leaves are brown, usually June 25- July 10. Shade immediately. Hang or put on ventilated shelves for 3 weeks to “cure”. They must have good air circulation and shade.

How To Store- Store at room temperature or cooler, out of direct sunlight. Cool basements and garages can work well for storage. The bulbs need air circulation, but storing in paper bags can keep them from drying out too much. Hardnecks generally store up to 5 months. Softnecks up to 9 months.

The Garlic is Selling Out Quickly- Last Market will be Sept. 25th or Oct 2nd

Seems like more and more people are catching on to the great flavor of fresh garlic and Labor Day weekend was crazy busy.
I am starting to run out of Chesnok Red and several other garlics, so if you want certain types to save for planting in October- this is the time to come.
Here's hoping for a nice weekend, with the fires completely out by Saturday.

Buckwheat Field

The garlic fields are rotated every other year. In between
garlic crops I plant Winter Rye, Oats and peas,
Buckwheat and other cover crops to improve soil quality and fertility

Rose de Lautrec Garlic

One of my favorite garlics, Rose de Lautrec (I call it French Rose) actually does not grow well in Colorado, since it prefers warmer climates. This year in particular it was really stressed out during the 17 below zero days we had in December. It had strange-looking bulbs with no cloves (like an onion) or turned into clumps of tiny bulbils. Although at my friend's garden in Boulder, where it's slightly warmer, hers did fine. So I am encouraging you to try growing it yourself from the little bulbils I've salvaged from it this year.