Author Topic: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?  (Read 16035 times)

Jeannine

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #20 on: September 30, 2010, 15:19:54 »
Got my garlic yesterday from Rosia..see above, the cloves are huge..can I start them in pots, then plant out as John ios moving some raised beds ..thank you
When God blesses you with a multitude of seeds double  the blessing by sharing your  seeds with other folks.

Vinlander

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #21 on: October 01, 2010, 00:23:16 »
Try sowing about 4-5 seeds in a module and planting that out. I use that technique on lots of alliums (biggies go in single planted, springs and picklers maybe 8-10 seeds per but the technique is the same)... I find the growing clumps easy enough to weed around, with shallots I guess I look at a sowing 4 seeds per in a 24-drop module in early february with a bit of heat and plant out early April after hardening off.... seemed to have a lot of shallots this year for the effort involved.... I use Prisma which is an F1 so no good for really trying to save seed from, currently don't have time/space to try and breed my own line of shallots.... I jsut pick up a couple of packs of seed in the Wyevales sales....

chrisc

I do something similar but the roots of alliums don't fill a module well (until they are getting a bit cramped) and they tend to fall apart unless you split the modules up before tipping them out cleanly.

It doesn't matter with leeks - but it's a pain with most of the others

This seems to me to be an ideal use for peat pots or some other plantable pot - maybe even newspaper ones...  I worry about nitrogen theft with seedlings, though - maybe soak them in potassium nitrate first (but keep away from flames or be prepared to retire immediately).

Cheers.

PS. I feel the urge to challenge the PARTIAL myth of the 2nd generation F1 seed that goes triffid and kidnaps your wife, burns your house down etc. etc. New thread coming up.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

avrilc

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #22 on: October 05, 2010, 13:38:26 »
I normally grow softneck as it keeps better but am not sure of the best varieties - has anyone grown any of the following and, if so, do you recommend or not?  I am looking for large cloves if poss. 

Marco;  Cristo;  Iberian Wight;  Germidour

thanks

realfood

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #23 on: October 05, 2010, 19:14:41 »
It just so happens that I was planting out 11 different garlic varieties today, for a test for the best garlic to cope with the cold, wet conditions of Glasgow.
I did note that Cristo and Iberian Wight had large cloves.
For a quick guide for the Growing, Storing and Cooking of your own Fruit and Vegetables, go to www.growyourown.info

Ellen K

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #24 on: October 07, 2010, 06:53:43 »
Alys Fowler recommends hard neck garlic as generally having a superior flavour.  There is a short series of videos on The Guardian website of her on her plot and she waxes lyrical for some time about this.

The Solent Wight I've got certainly does smell strong and harsh, it is supposed to be a good one for our climate but Ye Gods I can smell it from here ugh double ugh.  Still you have to give these things a try.  In July, my Italian neighbour gave me some of his garlic to plant this year, the bulbs were small and they were red hardneck and shamefully I have eaten them all.  They peeled easier that the white soft necks I grew and they had a lpvely flavour.

chriscross1966

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #25 on: October 07, 2010, 12:11:39 »
I got the bulk of next years planted out a couple of days ago. One row each Solent Wight and Albigensian Wight plus a row of self-saved elephant. If i grow a hardneck next year it's becasue an experiment involving offsets and bulbils has worked.... so there could be up to another row yet. I've already used quite a bit of this years harvest but the freezer is steadily filling up with home-made ready meals and pasta sauces etc..... cooked up 25lbs of chilli last night.... that had a couple of bulbs of hardneck in it....

chrisc

grannyjanny

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #26 on: October 08, 2010, 19:30:34 »
How big was the pan ;) ;D.

tim

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #27 on: October 08, 2010, 19:58:06 »
I'm sad for those who find some garlic unpleasant. To me, garlic is garlic.

Certainly I swear by Solent & Albigensian. And although it is said that bulbs MAY unusually  last until June, I was still enjoying ours in September.

chriscross1966

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #28 on: October 09, 2010, 02:28:00 »
How big was the pan ;) ;D.

My 14" Wok plus a one gallon saucepan plus a smaller saucepan, all tipped into my biggest stockpot (12 litres) and stirred together......

Ended up with 31 portions, 11 rice plus chilli ready meals plus 20 portions for use on potatoes etc....

chrisc

grannyjanny

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #29 on: October 09, 2010, 07:47:11 »
Well done Chris. You would make someone a lovely partner ;). Oh if only my OH could cook ::).

Deb P

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Re: Hardneck and softneck garlic...whats the difference?
« Reply #30 on: October 09, 2010, 08:42:29 »
I normally grow softneck as it keeps better but am not sure of the best varieties - has anyone grown any of the following and, if so, do you recommend or not?  I am looking for large cloves if poss. 

Marco;  Cristo;  Iberian Wight;  Germidour

thanks

I'm a big fan of Marco garlic, have saved enough the past two years to just about be self sufficient now. The bulbs are a good size and pretty strong tasting. I will be planting the larger outer cloves later this month for next years crop, so far I have avoided any diseases so I'm just carrying on..... ;D
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

 

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