Crud Alert

One hundred eighty garlic cloves were peeled in preparation for planting before we discovered a problem.  In the past, the diseased growth usually appeared on surfaces at the other end of the clove as a brown spot.  This hole at the root end of the clove was easily seen resulting in removal from the to be planted group.  This picture made clear disease issues not detected by the naked eye.  The decision not to plant this one is not to avoid an empty place in the planted group but to keep this poison out of our soil.  Overall, our garlic appeared to be in excellent condition especially when compared to the more common infestation of years past.  We considered discontinuing soaking and peeling but in the end it continued.  It turns out that was a lucky but excellent decision.  This clove is a White Bishop variety.

This White Bishop clove escaped elimination at peeling.  The cataract removed sharp Becky eyes raised concern and removal from the to be planted pile.  Since all root and later leaf growth springs from this area at the base, we cannot be certain that there are disease issues with this clove.  It seems that focusing on unhealthy issues can make one a little crazy.  My aged eyes would have placed this clove in the to plant group and that might have been a sound decision.

Our original planting stock for this variety was purchased from local legend Charlie Bishop.  He planted a large section of river bottom land with garlic and traveled about the area selling his product.  One year we saw him at the Saugerties Garlic Festival.  Many pickup trucks there were parked in a circle with the tailgates facing the center of the group.  Most of the growers were standing around waiting for a prospective customer to examine their garlic.  Charlie was standing on a box loudly speaking like a carnival barker about how he grew his prized garlic in river bottom land directly adjacent to the mighty Susquehanna River.  Needless to say he sold far more product than the others.

 

This Purple Stripe clove was judged to be free of disease and therefore it could have been planted.  It was not planted.  This illustrates the unexpected issues following a sharp focus on disease.  Last year's harvest found empty spaces where Purple Stripe cloves had been planted.  We had no idea the cause of the failed plants.  At this point sixty cloves of this variety are in the ground.  This blog post is intended to provide a record of events available for future inspection.  At this point all have been planted.  Perhaps next year we will need to take a closer look at this variety when selecting planting stock as a result of its condition at harvest.

Cutting Scapes

Garlic harvest should begin in one month from now.  Each year I try to delay digging in the hope that my crop will feature impressively huge bulbs and cloves.  Dying leaves relax their tight grip on the stem and rain water finds its way down inside the bulb wrappers.  This year the plan is to begin digging early.  In spite of the bizarre weather this year, the garlic now looks extremely good.  Putting large size aside, we are going for a disease free harvest.  A scape can be found amidst the tangle.  It is pointing toward the ground.

Not all growers believe that removing garlic scapes increases the size of the bulbs.  With the second method of reproduction gone, all of the plant's energy is directed to the bulb.  If left in place these leafless stalks will produce an incomplete flower and a cluster of tiny bulbils.  The advantage in planting them is that they carry no soil borne disease.  Their disadvantage is the number of years required to grow full sized bulbs.  Garlic scapes appear in farmer's markets as a food fit for humans.  They might pickle like green beans but we gave up canning years ago.  As a stir fry ingredient they would add zip but we now eat very little rice.  So in the compost they go.  Their scent will be unmistakable a year from now when the mature compost is screened.

Purple stripe is the name of this variety.  We use it as a marker plant to separate our other plantings of varieties that display only similar to each other appearances.  Purple stripe is shorter than the rest with a thicker stem.  Its leaves are broad and closely spaced.  A bluish cast in the leaves makes purple stripe stand out from the rest.  Harvested bulbs display beautiful colors making this a real winner.

White Bishop is the name we assigned to this variety.  Purchased from a local grower named Bishop, his name had to be matched with this variety.  Anyone that has attended the Saugerties Garlic Festival must have seen Mr. Bishop.  Most growers there displayed their crop from the back of a pickup truck. Charlie worked the crowd with a never ending carnival barker's banter.  He sold a great deal of his fine garlic and everyone knew that he was there.  I suspect that the actual name of this variety is Extra Hardy German White but definitely prefer to call it White Bishop.