Whilst I harvested my garlic back in July, I only got around to cleaning, sorting and recording the results recently. This year I had tried 8 new cultivars and of those, I’m saving the best of 4, maybe 5, to grow again next year.
I have 2 beds where I grow my garlic, and those in the 1st bed in the foreground, did the best, whereas those in the background were generally smaller. Both beds had exactly the same mix of soil and manure added, so why such a difference? We think (and it’s just a guess really) that despite on being next to the fence, it’s because the row at the back is also in line with the side path that leads to the front, and creates a bit of a wind tunnel and will be colder. So perhaps this is why they were all smaller?
So, the winners and losers, in order of those with largest bulbs to smallest.
Winners
Rhapsody Wight (softneck), that came in with 6 large (like, just fitting in my hand large) and 3 small bulbs. They started splitting a little, but I’m never too worried about that.
I’ve always wanted to grow Carcasonne (hardneck), as I’m quite interested in the history of that area (Languedoc, southern France), in regards to the Albigensian (aka Cathar) crusade in the early 13th century (I’m #TeamCathar). So it pleased me that this cultivar did so well with a mix of mostly large and medium bulbs and a couple of small.
Kingsland Wight (hardneck) did very well producing some lovely bulbs.
Some of the Provence (softneck) were starting to split, but gave me 9 large bulbs.
Maddock Wight (softneck), though in the ‘wind tunnel’ bed did a bit better compared to the other 3 in that bed, so I’m think I’ll try this again next season in the other bed and see how they go.
I am setting aside the largest bulbs/cloves for each of the above varieties to sow again in the coming season. The rest will be for us, plus some to share with friends.
Losers
These were grown in the ‘wind tunnel’ bed and the largest ones were more a medium when compared to the abovementioned cultivars. Rose Wight (hardneck) wasn’t too bad and might do better in less windy/cool circumstances perhaps?
For some reason, Caulk Wight (hardneck) only produced 6 bulbs, though I sowed at least 9 last autumn. Not sure what happened to the rest.
Picardy Wight (softneck) produced only smaller bulbs.
Next season, and I’ll be sowing the cloves I’ve saved from this years harvest in the next month, I’ll grow the bulk of the garlic in the less windy bed. But I thought I’d trial a couple of cloves of the ones that did best, into the wind tunnel bed as an experiment. It will be interesting to see the results for those next year.
I’ve stored my garlic, as always, in paper bags (I reused the large paper bags I get my prescriptions in) and they go in a cupboard in the dining room, where the temperature is fairly steady year round. Each cultivar is in it’s own bag, and I rotate each cultivar as I need another bulb for cooking. This way I’ll also be able to judge how well they store and can keep and eye on any that start either sprouting or going soft.
Overall though, I’m pleased with the harvest. Mmmm, garlic.
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The difference between hardneck and softneck garlic is that hardnecks produce what is known as a scape which you must remove (see post on growing garlic), late Spring/early Summer. For more on this, I’ve previously blogged about about garlic scapes and what to look for, as well as how to preserve scapes via freezing.
If you are interested in growing the above cultivars, I got my initial bulbs from Kings Seeds and was happy with the quality.