The Garlic's In!

It is a cool, overcast day.  I got outside first thing this morning to turn the area I chose for next year's garlic, pick out the weeds, and mark the rows. 

A total of 114 cloves of various sizes were planted in the North Garden near the rock wall.  No bulbils or rounds were planted this year.  From the back of the plot to the front:  

40 Red Russian - four rows

15 Baba Franchuk’s - one row. This variety is one I started from bulbils in 2016.

24 Northern Quebec - two rows, plus 3 cloves at the end of the row of Kiev.  The Northern Quebec wrappers are white.

8 Kiev  - one row. This variety was started from bulbils in 2016.   I only had 5 bulbs from last year’s garden, and 3 of those bulbs ended up too mouldy to use. 

17 Central Siberian - one row, plus 4 cloves beside container of Brown Tempest.  These were small cloves. This variety was started from bulbils in 2016.

10 Brown Tempest - small cloves. They were planted in a plastic container, which was placed at the front of the plot, in the ground.  Another variety started from bulbils in 2016.

Baba Franchuk's and Kiev are big, beautiful varieties of garlic, but the wrappers were so papery and fine that the cloves practically peeled themselves as I split the bulbs open!  We might be having roasted garlic later today.  About 20 cloves lost their wrappers when bulbs were being broken apart for planting.

Most of the varieties I have grown have purple stripes on the wrappers, or a light purple hue.  Northern Quebec wrappers are white.  Kiev, though, had beautiful brown, gold, and amber tones to the wrappers that I hadn't seen before.  So pretty.  

This season, Northern Quebec, Red Russian, and Central Siberian made it through the wet weather the best.  Even so, some of the Red Russian were mouldy inside when I broke open the bulbs.  Red Russian usually dries down very well and stores for many months (we are still eating Red Russian garlic that was harvested last August).

Northern Quebec dried down the fastest this year, and the most thoroughly.

In the next day or two, I'll mow some leaves and put the mulch on the plot. It will be nice to have the garlic patch "tucked in" for the winter.  :)