September 26, 2011
This week I have been busy prepping and sorting our garlics. I have reserved some as our own rootstock, some to be our own household use and some for selling. I have put five different varieties in 1/2 pound netted bags for sale. Happy Tides our local Health Food Store will be selling our garlics. The garlics have been hardened off and so can be used in cooking or planting. The varieties for sale are
Sicilian Gold
Sicilian Gold is a medium strength garlic with a pleasant flavour.
It has consistently produced large softneck bulbs, probably of the Artichoke variety.
Tibetian
It is an excellent keeper and has a flavour that entices one to eat more.
Northern Quebec Good strength, flavour, size and vigour. A strong, hot garlic!
Northern Québec is listed in the Seeds of Diversity Canada catalogue of heritage varieties
as endangered and hard to find.
Chesnok Red
Chesnok Red is a gourmet delight. It is a purple stripe hardneck varietyand one of the best cooking garlics. Highly flavourful. It holds its shape and retains flavor well when cooked.
It has large, easy-to-peel cloves.
Leningrad
Leningrad packs a lot of punch! It is very hotand strong. Leningrad has become a staple
thanks to its excellent flavour, ease of growingand long storage life. Leningrad is listed in the
Seeds of Diversity Canada catalogue of heritage varieties as endangered and very hard
to find.
ENJOY!
July 21,2011
Our Garlics are almost ready to harvest. They have had a good growing season. Just before garlics are harvested their stems are long and gracefully curving. We leave the Bulbil heads on, as we feel the plant hardens off better. The garlic field is very beautiful just before harvest. Here is a poster that I created from one of my own garlic paintings.
Leningrad
Leningrad packs a lot of punch. It is very hot and strong. Leningrad has become a staple thanks to its excellent flavour, ease of growing and long storage life. Leningrad is listed in the Seeds of Diversity Canada catalogue of heritage varieties as endangered and very hard to find.
Sicilian Gold
Sicilian Gold is a medium strength garlic with a pleasant flavour. It came to us from Salt Spring Seeds. It has consistently produced large softneck bulbs, probably of the Artichoke variety.
Northern Quebec Garlic
Good strength, flavour, size and vigour. Popular with growers. Northern Québec is listed in the Seeds of Diversity Canada catalogue of heritage varieties as endangered and hard to find.
Tibetian Garlic It is an excellent keeper and has a flavour that entices one to eat more
For the past four years we have planted many varieties of hard neck garlics. Most of our harvests have been kept as seed cloves for the next falls' planting. Our seed garlic is now certified organic. This year we will harvest Tibetan, Leningrad, and Northern Quebec. We find that this selection of hard neck garlics offer varied flavours and are most suitable to our growing conditions here on Mayne Island. We do not push our varieties to produce the largest bulbs they are capable of. We use water and organic soil amendments in moderation. The resulting garlic has a longer storage life and is in better shape for adapting itself to your growing conditions. We harvested three varieties of soft neck garlics this summer; Asian Tempest, Sicilian Gold and Metechi.
