This is my absolute favourite garlic to grow. Big fat juicy cloves, produce big fat juicy bulbs in July/August that store well into April the following year. However my liking for Cristo will be tested this year as I appear to have been sent 3x the amount I ordered - 9 bulbs in total!
My February planted garlic failed last year as there was no frost to break the dormancy, so I've decided to turn my glut into a seed trial this year. Frosts are forecast for the next few nights, so I've put 3 bulbs out in the garden nursery area, 3 are in the fridge and the rest are in freezer. Let's see which produces the best crop this year...
I'm really interested in this trial. With global warming, proper ground frosts I think will become rarer down here in France. I've put mine in the bottom of the fridge ready for planting in a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI'd be worried that the freezer would break apart the cell structure but if they overwinter outside then maybe they've learned to adapt.
I love seeing your spring flowers. I've a few daffodils here. I will eventually plant some more bulbs but getting the farming side going is first priority.
I had a nursery rhyme back in the dim distant past that called the daffs, Daffadowndillys. It's a lovely name I think.
Deborah
This is one i'll be watching very closely too. this is my first year of growing garlic (i've chosen solent wight) and it went in just under 2 weeks ago, and has yet to break the surface. however, we're also going through a cold period right now (forecast -5*C tonight!) so i think I'll be okay in terms of that cold period, this year, at least.
ReplyDeleteI will admit however that i was worried, initially, that we wouldn't have a sufficiently cold period for the garlic, and i did wonder at the time whether it would be possible to use either the fridge or the freezer to replicate the effects of a good frost.
Please let us know how you get on with this, i for one will be watching eagerly!
thanks!
keth
xx
A friend of mine is a garlic afficionada, and she's putting in something like 50 different types of garlic! Who knew there were so many? In my garlic-ignorance, I thought there were essentially three types; hard neck, soft neck, and elephant! I don't grow it because I always forget to put it in during the fall, and it just doesn't do as well with spring planting. But my friend will keep me well supplied, and I'll watch your experiments too over the coming months!
ReplyDeleteHi everyone - glad you like the sound of this trial :) I'd thought about the fridge treatment a while ago after last year's crop failed. The arrival of 9 bulbs this week made me extend the thought a little! Rest assured I'll be reporting back later on in the year...
ReplyDeletednd - like you I'm interested to see what the freezer might do to the cell structure. I need to add that the fridge and freezer treated bulbs are being taken out daily to mimic the temperature rise that the nursery located garlic's experiencing.
Kethry - that's just what my garlic experienced last year - no frost, hence this trial. I've got clayey soil, so I pot up some garlic in November (see earlier posts) and have a backup planting in February out on the allotment. Sometimes the November planting wins (like last year), other times the February one does.
Jodi - 50 kindsa garlic, you're kidding me! Do they grow anything else?