Elephant Garlic and/or Shallots

[JAS]

Would anyone have some Elephant Garlic or shallots for sale. The place I ordered some garlic from was sold out. Let me know if you do and how much. Thanks!

[Ed Norman]

We always go to the grocery store and buy some garlic and elephant garlic. Then DW plants it. later, she sells the excess harvest to the grocery store for some extra cash. She's been doing this for year. No need to order garlic from the seed catalog.

[omnicat]

Ditto with ed - I buy garlic to plant from the grocery store.

Shallots I order - as it's actually cheaper than buying them at the grocery.

[Paquebot]

I have a limited amount of shallots left. They are the Golden and perfect size to plant in order to get large bulbs. That's my own fault as I had previously sorted the planters out and then forgot where they were in the shed. When it came time to plant shallots a week ago, I could only locate the eating-size ones. Of course, as soon as I planted 30 of those, I found the smaller ones!

Also have limited elephant garlic left over, like maybe 25-30 cloves. None are really big since it seems to take two years for me to get any real size from that variety. I'll plant a clove now and get a big round next July. That's planted back a year from now for a big divided bulb the following year.

And if you look up in the seed swap sticky thread at top, you'll find my regular garlic offer. Still have enough for a couple mixes.

Martin

[JAS]

I ordered hardnecks for my northern climate, though the softnecks will grow here. The grocery stores only carry softnecks around here, don't think I have seen the elephant garlic at the grocery store. I did order some garlic already.

Paquebot: How much do you want for the shallots and elephant garlic? I might take you up on some more garlic...let me know the varieties. The garlic did really well this year and I thought I would expand into the shallots and EG. Thanks!

[Paquebot]

JAS, you have mail!

I've been watching the local supermarkets for their gourmet garlic and everything now is Silver White or other similar mild softnecks. The elephant garlic has been rather small bulbs, by my standards, but typical of the Southern-grown type.

I've found one nice softneck that does well here and has yet to suffer winterkill, Simonetti. Otherwise most of the softneck varieties seem to phase themselves out of my garden plans by not surviving the winter. Simonetti was one of the first softnecks that I grew here and it's never failed me yet.

Martin

[JAS]

Thanks Martin,

I grew Oregon Blue (softneck) last year and was happy with it, though it was a mild winter. I also tried Inchelium Red and Polish White but both brought back smaller cloves than the original. I did keep back the nicest bulbs to try again. Out of the hardnecks the Purple Glazer types did the best. Koren Red was very disappointing, though it was a drought and I did not baby the garlic.

Also, I really like to know the varieties that I plant. I might try a few grocery store garlics, but I am pretty sure they are a Southern variety. A few of the other vendors at our farmers market usually try doing that and they end up with poor quality garlic (though that even sells around here).

[WisJim]

If there are farmer's markets in your area, check there for garlic. Much more likely to get a variety that grows well in your climate. We used to plant grocery store garlic, but never got results like we do with varieties better adapted for our climate.

[Paquebot]

Interesting observations and pretty much in keeping with how those varieties grow around here. One thing about growing garlic is that it's said to take 3 years for it to acclimate to a certain area. It may sound silly but when Martin's was grown only 8 miles from here, it was just so-so for size last year. This year it averaged larger than Music with only elephant being larger. We've gone with the 3-year rule and if something doesn't show any signs of getting bigger or better, it's gone.

Inchellium Red was phased out here but only because we'll grow at least 100 in the field. That one is not supposed to be really huge but to average around 2". It's more noted for taste than size and that's how many garlic growers judge certain varieties.

Polish White was phased out completely since it never lived up to expectations. Supposed to be "enormous" when grown in Oregon. Not so when grown in Wisconsin!

Purple Glazer is another great one which is noted for taste rather than size. It has a drawback in that the bulbs can't remain in the ground very long after the bottom few leaves begin to die. The outer wrapper skins of Purple Glazer are very thin. If the bulbs aren't quickly harvested, you'll only find a cluster of bare cloves.

Martin