Harvesting the garlic

[Bugbear]

This evening I finished harvesting the garlic and elephant garlic. The bulbs, leaves, stocks, and all, will hang in the shed for a few weeks to dry, then I will clean them off. I keep them in the vegetable drawer of my refrigerator until the end of September, then I separate them into cloves and plant them again.

A couple of years ago, I started over from one bulb of elephant and a couple of regular garlic; I had been growing bunches and bunches. I have about fifteen or twenty elephant bulbs and about that many regular garlic now. The plan is to replant almost all of the cloves.

[KFCarter]

Shallots are for babies, onions are for men, garlic is for heroes

-- anon.

[Rogerson785]

Is this garlic that you can eat? I bet you can make some fantastic salsa with all the available chilies etc.. That are available to you in that part of the US.

[Bugbear]

Oh ya, you can eat the garlic. The elephant garlic has much bigger cloves, but isn't quite as strong as regular garlic.

We do have all kinds of chilies here. We have to grow the tomatos over the fal-winter-spring seasons accept for the cherry tomatos, though. Some really good salsa comes from Northern New Mexico... if you can handel it.

[Bugbear]

Shallots are for babies, onions are for men, garlic is for heroes

-- anon.

That's good.

[Rogerson785]

Good sir, I can handle it. I spent four years in Sierra Vista Arizona and grew up in Southern California. This sounds like we might have to exchange some salsa from New Mexico for something from Kansas. Would you like a small tornado for the summer? But I would be willing to sample some of your great salsa for something from Kansas.

[Bugbear]

There's also some good salsa in Texas, and don't forget southern New Mexico. Each is a little different.

[KFCarter]

That's good.

I'm paraphrasing this one:
"There's almost nothing worth eating that's not improved by garlic, except perhaps ice cream and pie."
-- can't remember where I heard it... but I practice it regularly!

[KFCarter]

There's also some good salsa in Texas, and don't forget southern New Mexico. Each is a little different.

And regrettably, it's hard to come by in Southeast Georgia.

[Bugbear]

I need to get my soil back into shape before the fall when I plant them again. I was growing it in raised beds that were filled mostly with compost and had lots of sand; it was real loose and fluffy. These wer growing in a heavier clay soil and they didn't get very big. It's OK because I've multiplied the number of cloves I have, but the elephant garlic isn't softball size like it used to be.

I guess I need to plant okra again this year; I'm just not sure where to put it.