Elephant Garlic / 2013-2014

I was given some cloves of elephant garlic, which I planted out in a lazy spot.

Day X+0: At this point, all have come up.

Day X+63: There appears to have been some attrition at this point. I suspect some fell over.

Day X+93: Nearing the point of harvest. I needed them to yellow up a bit more, I think to the second leaf.

Day X+100: Here's the bulbs harvested. They were hung up in the shed.

There were some mini-bulbs. They weren't bulbils from the flower heads, as I cut those off and ate them. I think they were hanging off the big bulbs. In any case, they were planted out in the paddock, where I think they rotted away. I should have potted them up and grown them to be transplanted when more sturdy.

Day X+228: The year's harvest of Elephant garlic was still hanging in the shed. I've not eaten any, and decided to just plant it out. Someone else mentioned that they use it as a leek, rather than eating the bland standard leeks. So, that sounds like a plan. The heads are broken up, and weighed. At 380 grams.. I don't know. It'd mean more if I knew how much last year's planting weighed. There's definitely more cloves though, because a clove turns into a head, which contains more cloves than it started as.. obviously.

Where the cloves are located for future reference.

The cloves are now covered over with the potting mix.

The remaining five elephant garlic bulbs are planted in the bed by the back door, near the lemongrass. I've recently read that the red leafed lemongrass isn't good for much. The other type is the one which gives the thick stems for cooking. This one at best can be used for a tea with it's dud red leaves. If this is true, then I think that avoiding buying any more Little Fruity branded products is probably a wise idea.

Day X+236: And finally, here's one bulb of normal garlic I left in the ground last summer. Each of the cloves has sprouted. I'm just going to leave this here indefinitely, and see how wide it can grow and divide over the future years to come. This is supposed to result in smaller cloves as it divides and is crowded out. To the right of the unharvested garlic, I planted out some mustard I grew. This was sprouted from seeds bought at a bulk food store. They're the kind of seeds you use for pickling. It seems to be surviving the frosts pretty well.

This unharvested garlic, and the second planting of elephant garlic, are actually in the same continuous bed. In this last photo you could see the cheap fencing I put in to stop the chickens getting in and scratching up everything.