Seed garlic available this week!

I will have several varieties of garlic that is suitable for planting (large or medium sized garlic from a plot without disease problems).
I will have large heads of Chesnok Red, Tzan and Inchelium Red for $2 each. Also I will have medium sized heads of German Extra Hardy, Uzbek Turban, Malaysian, Georgian Crystal, Colorado Black, Chicago Italian and Killarney Red for $1.75.
Here are the garlic descriptions for 2 new garlics I am selling this Saturday, Aug. 27th:

 • Killarney Red-  The ultimate garlic for garlic bread! Mix with butter and olive oil and spread on warm french or sourdough bread. Mellow, smooth flavor when cooked. A Rocambole hardneck variety that peels easily. Won’t keep, eat by October.      GREEN

• Georgian Crystal- Delectable sweet & spicy flavor. Best used raw or cooked less than a minute. Try in salad dressing & garlic bread. 4-7 fat cloves are very easy to peel. From Republic of Georgia. Will store to November.        YELLOW

GMO's on Boulder County Open Space affect us all!

I haven't been updating my blog as often lately, because my computer time has been spent on the GM issue in Boulder County. The culinary gardener group I belong to has been helping me get inspired and informed on the issues.

I used to think I could grow organically on my own small farm and not worry about what other people were doing. Never did I want to become fanatical or political! Then 2 things happened.

Garlic Descriptions for Saturday August 20th

• Uzbek Turban-  Delightful flavor - rich and smooth.  Excellent choice for gazpacho, bruschetta, fresh sauce.  A hardneck Turban from former USSR. Stores to Nov.  PURPLE

• Chicago Italian- A great-tasting garlic with a spicy aftertaste when sliced raw.  Perfect for dips, pesto and garlic bread (see back). Nutty and smooth when cooked.  Easy to peel. Stores thru October.       BROWN

• Malaysian -So mild and sweet, you can enjoy it without cooking it. Makes smooth aioli, baba ganoush.  Easy to peel. Stores through September.             ORANGE

• Colorado Black-Heirloom from Colorado. A superior taste that starts off rich and mild, then builds a little heat. Good raw in hummus, bruschetta. Cooks well. Stores to Oct.  BLACK

• Guatemalan- A flavorful and mild garlic that compliments veggies of all kinds.  Pretty on the inside with 6-8 large burgundy cloves. Easy to peel. Stores to October.        GREEN

August 6th Garlic

Making guacamole or pesto? We will be bringing our famous "Malaysian Garlic" on Saturday. You can buy it by the bulb ($1.75) or in bargain bags ($4.25). It will also be in our variety bag - 6 different types of garlic, with color-coded description sheet- for $10.50. We'll also have the 6 other garlics from last week.

• Malaysian -So mild and sweet, you can enjoy it without cooking it. A perfect garlic for pesto, guacamole, fresh pasta sauce, salads and sliced very thin on a cracker. Makes smooth aioli, baba ganoush, and hummus. Original seedstock from Malaysia. A very easy to peel rocambole variety. Stores to October.               ORANGE

Garlic descriptions for July 30th market

• Inchelium Red- A softneck variety that is excellent for roasting.  Discovered on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington State. One of the best-tasting softneck garlics with a mild but lingering flavor. Will store through January or longer. RED

• Tzan -Tangy & flavorful in sauces, with pasta and for oriental cooking. Also a good raw garlic for those who love adventure. Collected from Shandong province in China originally. Will store through December. GREY

Garlic sales start July 30th

Garlic for eating will be sold
   starting July 30th.

Seed Garlic will be sold later

Some of July’s garlic harvest is cured, cleaned sorted and ready to sell. We’ll have Inchelium Red, Chesnok Red, German Extra Hardy, Tzan and Siberian.

Jumbo size garlic will be sold as well as our regular size.

This garlic is for eating, not planting. This is because some diseased garlic was found in the plot that it came from. The diseased garlic has been thrown out, and the garlic we’re selling is beautiful and healthy, but may have a few spores on the roots which could infect a plot it was planted into. We’ll sell all of this garlic early, and then sell the planting garlic afterward.

Muddy Garlic

Boulder has had almost 3 inches of rain which makes it challenging to harvest garlic. However, it's best to dig it up in spite of the mud. After you dig it up, you can rinse the bulb part in a tub of water to get off some of the mud. Then spread it out in the shade to dry. Make sure they are spread out well enough to dry out. After a few days you can condense it into bundles to keep drying.
In a couple of weeks you can rub off the outside layer of dirt and mud to clean it up.
Every leaf on the garlic represents one layer of bulb skin, so if you leave them in the ground too long they'll deteriorate quickly and won't store long or look appealing- although they'll be fine to eat.

Garlic Harvest is Done!

Here at WeeBee Farms we got only a half inch of rain- but we could see the storms over Boulder pouring down rain (We're 10 miles North of Boulder). The harvest started in late June with the Tzan and Shantung garlic, and was finished on July 12th. The last part was a bit muddy- the digging was easy, but it was time consuming to get the big clumps of dirt and mud off the bulbs.

It was mostly a very successful crop and I'll have lots of beautiful garlic to sell. The bad news is finding disease in one of my plots. More on that in a later post.

Last week for plant sales and garlic curlies. Watch for garlic bulbs at end of July or Early August

Come get your garlic scapes while you can. This is our last week to have them, in fact we'll be gone from the market all of July- to harvest and sort garlic and maybe squeeze in a camping trip.

To finish off your vegetable garden come get basil and squash plants and some beautiful morning glory starts and other flowers.

Early garlic is being harvested now

Most of our garlic won't be ready to harvest until June 30 through July 10th, but our earliest garlic varieties "Tzan" and "Shantung Purple" were harvested on June 21st. These are Asiatic garlics that mature earlier than the others.
It's so good to finally smell the unique earthy combination of garlic and dirt again!

How can you tell when to harvest your garlic?

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” with stems on. They must have good air circulation and shade.

How To Store- Clip off the stems after they are cured. 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.