[MoreWhisky]

I would love a green garlic recipe janeheritage if u got time to post one here.

My Garlic was planted on 4th Jan and doing lovely.

[mrs bouquet]

Yes please, I'd like a recipe as well if possible.  Thanks, Mrs Bouquet

[senrab_nhoj]

Planting on the shortest day and harvesting on the longest day is a bit of folklore that is a fair guide but not necessarily the best.

My neighbour likes to do that, not sure why.  My garlic get planted in Oct/Nov and by Dec 21 they had reasonable growth, simply put they had a good head start of the neighbours.  Last year they were harvested when they died back, about the end of July. Neighbour hauled his out 5 weeks earlier whether they were ready or not because the calender said so.  My crop of garlic was great, neighbours weren't as big.

He did however grow better sunflowers then I managed.

I suspect that planting on the equinox would mean they go in too early. Halloween should be a fair choice. And they do keep vampires away

Did you mean winter solstice rather than equinox? (Dec as opposed to Sep?)

[barney rubble]

I've only just planted mine (got them knock down from a local stores clearance lines) they were in for five days and the first sprouted- the others are now following suit. Not sure if I'll get cloves or one big bulb, but its happening

[janeheritage]

OK, here goes, Jane's Green Garlic ideas 

When the stalk is still soft and green:

(1) Chop the whole thing, bulb and the bottom 2 or 3 inches of stalk, and use it instead of garlic and onions or garlic and leeks in your favourite risotto, stir fry or Frittata recipes. The flavour is lovely, rich and garlicky but never harsh.

If you want more detail of risottos, stir fries and frittatas, let me know and I'll do another post.

(2) As the stalk hardens, remove the centre of it (the bit that goes down between where the cloves would be) and apart from that use the whole thing as above. You be the judge of how tough the green parts are getting.

(3) If it is "garlic that has not formed cloves yet, but which is in other respects garlic" you can't beat it for roasting. Wrap the whole bulb in foil and stick it in the oven at about 180 until soft - 30 - 40 minutes. It will go caramelly and sweet. You can squeeze this over meat (it's wonderful with lamb), mix it with young beetroot you have roasted in the same pan (a sqish of olive oil is good with this) or, and this is my absolute favourite:

- a pound of new spuds you have just dug. Boil them for 15 mins till just softening.
- a head of green garlic, roasted as above.
- a tablespoon or so of chopped fresh rosemary.

Mash the spuds coarsely.
Melt AT LEAST 50g of butter in a saucepan and squish in the garlic. Bash it about until it's well combined. Stir in the chopped rosemary.

Pour the lot over the spuds and stir roughly. Put in a smallish baking tin and roast at 180 - 190 till golden - half an hour or so.

For additional wickedness, grate some Parmesan over the top before roasting.

Devour.

I made this once for a dinner party and it didn't get out of the kitchen because me and the OH ate the lot... 

[SG6]

John, Nope, reread it and think I said what I meant.
As said it is a bit of tradition to plant on the shortest day and harvest on the longest - the solstices. My neighbour does it.

However it seems that planting earlier gives garlic a decent start. Mine were a good 6-8 inches before the solstice was upon us. They then didn't grow much more but they were by that time a good size. Anything planted on the winter solstice would have sat there doing not a lot, and could have rotted.

So it seems that an Oct/Nov planting is about the optimum. As I said picking the equinox is probably too early. So what falls between the Sept equinox and The Dec solstice? Halloween. 

[janeheritage]

I agree with SJ6. I've had very good results from planting in October. I like having something get going at that time too, it makes me feel good as the days get darker 

[FERDY]

I thought that if garlic was planted to over winter then it should be ready in 6 months - mine went in on 21st Dec so should be ready 21st June??

I think i will wait until then and then dig one up and see.  Im quite excited - my garlic last year was a flop and my mums was lovely so i sort of copied what shes did this time.

I was instructed (by an old wife ) to plant on the shortest day and to harvest on the longest day. Maybe she was just telling tales, three more weeks will tell.

[mrs bouquet]

Thanks for those recipes Janeheritage, now I have got more things to do with them .
I have just been down and cut the 'swans necks' off.  I did it at the place where they were bending - hope thats right. regards, Mrs Bouquet

[janeheritage]

You can eat the swan's necks too! Put them in a stir fry! 

[mrs bouquet]

You can eat the swan's necks too! Put them in a stir fry! 

Oh that was a quick reply, I have bought them in to do just that later. thanks again, Mrs Bouquet

[janeheritage]

Fabulous. Enjoy! Just the weather for it... 

[Beejay]

I suspect that planting on the equinox would mean they go in too early. Halloween should be a fair choice. And they do keep vampires away

They do keep vampires away. Never seen one around here

[barbarella]

Just to let you know that I've also planted a load from my greengrocer in containers ready to go in to the plot. They had such lovely fat bulbs I thought it must be worth a try! Not like those shrivelled little miserable things you get at that well known supermarket that begins with T!

I have heard that it is better to buy garlic bulbs for planting from a specialist supplier such as http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/ because they use varieties suitable for our climate.  The garlic bulbs from the supermarket are usually from southern Europe so may not do so well.  I got mine from the garlic farm, planted last October and harvested some last week - some were big and fat, others not quite ready so I'm going to leave the rest til next month, then try lifting a few more.  The lifted ones are drying in the porch and it smells like a Spanish restaurant in there

[Pellynut]

I lifted some of my garlic last weekend - it is now drying off.  They were planted out last October.  They were lifted because they looked ready - the leaves were turning brown.  Most of the bulbs are really big.   

A second lot are still in the ground and is still growing.  These arrived in the post in January (3 bulbs) and because I could not get up to the allotment I separated them into cloves and planted each clove into a pot.  I did not plant them out in the allotment until beginning of March, by which time they had really put on a lot of growth.