Garlic disease report

The good news from OUR NEW GARLIC FIELD

We sent our garlic out for disease testing and the garlic from the new field has a clean bill of health so we can sell it for planting for home gardeners and use it for our own planting. Yay!!! (We will use a heat treatment to be safe). We'll sell garlic from this area in about a month.

The bad news from OUR OLD GARLIC FIELD

The bad news is that some garlic from our older field had garlic bloat nematodes which caused some rot of the bulbs. Luckily 98% looked good and is great eating garlic, but the garlic shouldn't be used for planting. Apparently the nematode larvae can live in tiny specks of soil in the roots and spread to a new area. A hot water treatment can be used to kill the nematodes.

Garlic for sale August 3rd

We will be selling garlic this coming weekend. Inchelium Red, Chesnok Red, German Extra Hardy, Malaysian and more.
This will all be garlic for eating. Planting garlic will be available in about a month.

Harvest is almost done. We had one "bad" field where the garlic looked a bit better than I thought it would. Mostly medium sized garlic, but no dreaded white mold. There was some cutworm damage, some rot, some tiny garlic, lots of spotty areas where the garlic didn't come up among other issues. The "good" field was a big success, except for one or two suspicious looking garlics which I'm sending off for disease testing. Lots of big, beautiful garlic and the digging was easy since I watered right before the rain/hail storm June 29th.

 The boxcar is filled with garlic drying

The garlic harvest "crew"

Saturday June 29th: Lots of Curlies, a few plants. Last week for curlies!

On Saturday I will be harvesting some early garlic (Inchelium Red) while my trusty helper Georgia will be at market selling garlic curlies. Come and get some scapes while we have them! They last for a LONG time in the fridge and we will have generous bags for $1.50 (or $1.25 if you bring your own bag). We'll also have some cucumber and squash plants, flower starts and a few other plants for your garden.
WeeBee Farms will not be at market in July and then will come back August 3rd with garlic bulbs for sale.

Garlic Scapes For Sale!!

We will have lots and lots of garlic "curlies" (scapes) for sale tomorrow! Come get them while we have them. They store for several weeks in the fridge in a plastic bag.

• Chop and add to cooked beans, chili, eggs, omelets, quiche, soups, stir fry, tomato sauce and veggies.

• Chop and sautee in olive oil for a minute. Serve generous amounts over pasta or veggie dishes

• Chop fine and eat raw in cold salads, potato salad, tuna or salmon salad, hummous, tabouli

• Roast on the grill whole with a little olive oil and salt 

You can use the whole thing including the blossom, maybe slicing off part of the tougher ends.

When do I harvest the garlic?

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.

Garlic falling down

Usually garlic doesn't fall over, unless you have gone way past harvest time. This year is an exception for me. The Turban type garlics (Tzan, Shantung purple, Thai Purple, etc) got stressed out by the weather this year. Probably the 1 degree temps in early April were too much for them since they are the earliest garlic and were pretty tall by then. When garlic is stressed by the cold, it can form strange looking bulbs or no bulbs at all, just "rounds".
The Turban garlics have very weak stems this year and most are laying flat on the ground. The very bottom leaves have yellowed or fallen off (as is normal a week before harvest time), but they are still 80% green.
 I am digging the tiny bulbs up early (the ones with the skinniest stems) because I may not be able to find them later when they become more dried up. I am also digging any that half the leaves are yellow. The rest I'm leaving to see if they will bulb up in the next few days.
The "rounds" that I get (no cloves, just one round onion shaped bulb) will be saved for re-planting in the Fall. They will produce huge garlic bulbs for next year.
Stay tuned.

Where are the scapes?

Quite a few people have been asking when the scapes will come. Last year the garlic was super-early and scapes were already harvested and even some early bulbs were out of the ground.
This year everything appears to be exactly on time, or maybe a bit late. Our scapes will probably appear in a week or so. I'll sell them at market June 15- 29th. (Probably just a few on the 15th) Scapes only appear on hardneck garlic, not softnecks like Inchelium Red. They should be harvested when they make a full loop on top. This will help the bulbs get bigger. Leave a few on for fun, or for longer storing garlic bulbs.

The bulbs aren't developed yet, but will be soon. When half the leaves are brown- it's time to harvest! For us this is usually around July 1st. Earlier for the Tzan and other Turban types.
Look for garlic bulbs at market starting August 3rd.

Peppers! And more peppers!

12 Types of Sweet Peppers • 9 Types of Hot Peppers!
• All but 2 from Organic seeds

It's finally time to plant peppers! I know a lot of you planted them earlier- and you Boulderites have a bit warmer temperatures so they should be fine. We will plant ours early next week. They do NOT like cool ground temperatures and it was 39 degrees here last night. (The peppers are more prone to fungal diseases when they are too cool.) We have gotten a good crop of peppers every year with the late planting strategy. Some will have to be covered when we get the first frost in September or October. Most of the green ones will turn red by September, some in August.

Delicious Licorice Mint - An under-appreciated native herb

Licorice mint is so easy to grow and is so tasty to nibble on. Just plant it outside or in a big pot. Pick off the leaves to nibble or to make tea. It's also a Chinese Medicinal plant with many uses including to treat anxiety and nausea. Put it in full or part sun in the garden or a pot and give it moderate water. Picking the leaves from the top will help it grow bushier. In summer it will make beautiful purple flowers that bees love!
It grows about 2ft high and is usually perennial, and will drop lots of seeds. Other names for it are Korean Hyssop, Korean mint and Agastache Foeniculum. It is not a true mint, so will not aggressively take over the garden.