A while back I posted about some wild purple garlic and chives that I transplanted from the orchard. In today's post I will be going over how that worked out.
When we moved here it was pretty obvious the first time the old orchard was mowed that there was something garlic scented growing. We weren't expecting to find real garlic, but sure enough, that's what it was.
In the past 4 years of living here I have been meaning to move it. It was pretty well established with over 100 cloves growing in a downhill sloped drainage swale leading away from the apple trees, between those trees and a fence we had removed where a (what we thought) dead grapevine was.
Finally, this year I got around to it. We are still not sure if it was intentionally planted in the swale, or whether it naturally existed there prior to there being an orchard.
The thing is, garlic is a good pest repellant. It's a logical thing to think it was intentionally planted to ward off deer and bugs. Yet, after a few discussions with local groups in my area, who cherish the wild native plants and forage for wild edibles, it was identified as a native wild purple garlic that grows here on its own.
Previously I recapped when I dug up a small amount of the chives and garlic, moved then transplanted the majority of it in the straw bale planters, as well as planting some of the garlic seeds, also known as bulbils, in the 'spiral garden'. I've been meaning to post an update earlier because some of you were asking when I first posted how it all turned out. This is actually just going to be a partial update because I did not harvest all of the garlic at one time and there were multiple places it was growing. Anyhoo…
I believe this was a month or so after being transplanted. They had grown approximately double in size. There were about 50 planted between 4 of these straw bale planters that were left over from last year's garden. (At some point I will be doing a post on those)
About 2 months into spring the garlic started forming the stalks with the flowers, called scapes. They are edible, especially when young and soft as are these in the above picture. They are always curled in an interesting manner. I think they're quite pretty.
In the above picture some of the scapes had been removed so I could eat them, but also in hope for a more distinct head of garlic. Some were bigger than others when they were transplanted which can be seen by their rate of growth here.
This wild garlic is a hardneck variety. In this picture you might be able to notice that some of the garlic had been pulled out from either impatience or because the plants had fallen over with yellowed leaves, indicating they were done growing for the season.
This is what the ones I pulled up looked like. They didn't have the appearance of traditional garlic heads. That's to do with the fact that they were only first and second year garlic. These were all more than likely grown from the garlic flowers seeds, called bulbils. In the third year after the bulbils are planted is when the head of garlic you are used to seeing forms.
I decided to leave the rest of them in for a while to see what they did. I really should have mulched over these straw bale planters but it got way too hot for me to be outside much with the heat we were having. The leaves were starting to yellow, but I think this had more to do with the hot temperatures and not being mulched than whether they were ready to pick.
Okay y'all. I'm going to leave it at this for now as I have more to update in another post later on. If you found this post enjoyable, please consider upvoting, resteeming, following, and commenting! Thank you kindly for reading...
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. Hope you enjoyed them!
. Hope you enjoyed them!Here are previous posts of mine:
STORIES:
BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES: EXPOSING MY ROOTS (introduction post)
BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES: Chapter 1
BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES: FAMILY OWNED: Chapter 1 Section 2
BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES: ABANDONED BASEMENT: Chapter 1 Section 2
BAREFOOT IN THE BOONIES: REWIND: GROWING UP WITH TURNTABLES
2011 GARDEN:
2011: DESIGN AND BUILD
2011 BACKYARD TRELLIS, PERIMETER, & VOLUNTEER
2011 TIRE PORTION OF THE GARDEN
2011 BRASSICAS-TIRE GARDEN
2011 DWARF ORCHARD
RECIPES:
SANTA DELIVERED SHROOMS-SHITAKE OYSTER SCRAMBLE
SWEET CINNAMON POPCORN
MOCK ALMOND JOY--CHEAPER AND HEALTHIER
HANGRY TERIYAKI
RASHES--WHY I SWITCHED TO THIS COMMON DIY LAUNDRY SOAP AND HOW I MAKE IT
SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH FORAGED FINDS: FIRST FOOD FORAGE OF 2018
WHAT'S FOR DINNER? BEETS ME! FIRST GARDEN HARVEST AND RECIPE
POEMS:
WATCHING THE SPRING WAKE UP
SHE IS DYING
WEEPING WILLOW
LIGHTS OUT BABY ROBIN
PLANTS AND ANIMALS-EDUCATIONAL:
GRASS IS OUR FRIEND
LITTLE BLUESTEM--BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL
BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE FALSE INDIGO BUSH
WALK ALONG WITH ME:
WALK ALONG WITH ME 1
WALK ALONG WITH ME 2--WINTER 2017/2018
2018:
WILD TURKEY TAIL AND REISHI MUSHROOMS
HUGELKULTUR BED STARTED BUT THERE IS A LOGISTICAL OBSTACLE.
2018 CURRENT HAPPENINGS: FOOD FOREST EXPANSION
WILD EDIBLES AROUND THE HOMESTEAD
GRANNY SMITH APPLE FINALLY GOT SOME LOVE
PICKED MY FIRST PINT OF WILD NATIVE BLACK RASPBERRIES
TRANSPLANTING WILD PURPLE GARLIC PART 1
ORCHARD: PLANNING, PREPPING, AND PLANTING
CONTESTS/REVIEWS
Chronic and Coffee MSP Review--25 SBD contest for the best MSPWAVES Radio Reviews
VOICES FROM THE MOUNTAINS Review--25 SBD contest for the best MSPWAVES Radio Reviews
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