Four heads of early purple...
Two of the early white...
And two heads of the italian red...you break the head into cloves and plant each one which grows into a new bulb...
The first that I pulled up a month ago I think must have been the italian red (I forgot exactly which ones I put where and was a bit too frazzled then to document it properly)...it was in a sunnier spot so it died down first, but the label also said it's the earliest variety at Heronswood. I attempted a garlic plait, but there weren't many bulbs with stems, a lot had broken off, so I didn't try too hard!
I pulled up the main harvest last weekend...this would be the early while and purple, all mixed up...(notice that the packets said to plant march/april...I planted in may, so I'm harvesting about a month late too) This time I had plenty to make a good plait...my first attempts were dismal, so I googled instructions and found a great tutorial here...silly me, I was trying to plait from the top of the leaves down...doh!!!
My plait looks lovely on the back...I put the big garlic first at the bottom and gradually moved onto the smaller ones...
It's now hanging in the kitchen...although it isn't as pretty as the lovely one in the tutorial...I didn't trim the roots and only brushed the loose dirt off...but I think it has rustic charm!
ACE, maybe trim the roots off a give it a wipe:)
ReplyDeleteWow! That looks FANTASTICAL!
ReplyDeleteBrings me right back to the South west of France.
Be careful of mould though - especially with so much braiding happening....
It's been 5 months now and it's still hanging in the kitchen, about 1/3 of it left and no mould :o)
DeleteI finally got around to planting this years garlic today, and discovered that there is quite a lot that has resprouted that I missed pulling up from this crop. All the more for later!