Garlic and Shallots
Garlic
I’ve always really liked the idea of growing my own garlic. Problem is, it’s never really worked. Maybe because I can’t bring myself to buy ‘planting garlic’, I mean look at it, it’s just garlic garlic.. I can buy garlic garlic from a supermarket, I don’t need to buy ‘special’ planting garlic do I? But does it make a difference, that’s what I’ve always wanted to know. Though I should do some sort growing comparison, I mainly just want to prove that you can grow garlic from just garlic. Same applies to potatoes and shallots, you plant a potato, you get more potatoes, you plant a shallot you get more shallots. Strange but true. Its kind of like a magic cloning, multiplying machine. Do you really need to buy expensive ‘seed’ potatoes? Now, mostly the garlic you get in the supermarkets and the ‘special’ to grow ones look boring and taste boring. I had some really big tasty ones from a deli in town once so I thought, well I know they taste good, why not grow my own from them? Maybe it doesn’t work like that, but that’s what we are here to find out. So what can help this succeed where I haven’t before? I read recently that garlic and shallots should really have some time in the ground during the cold and frosty weather, best planted in the autumn or early winter the year before to start coming up in really early spring or late winter. I’ve only ever tried planting garlic in late spring. Also I found out that you should plant garlic much deeper then I previously thought, 2-3in down. The bulbs grow under ground, unlike onions and shallots. I did not know that. Ok, so I found this all out in late winter, but I managed to get them in the ground in January and its been pretty frosty lately. They should be ok, but I know for next time.
So! Will deli bought big garlic grow? We shall see.
Shallots
The shallots are so much of an experiment, execpt that I’ve never grown them before. I selected a ‘banana’, long shaped ones, but in general I’m just interested to see what shallots do and how they come out. Will they be exactly the same as I planted, just more of them? Or will they be bigger and better than the sets, like with onions? I should try growing them from seeds one year too. Like with the garlic, I should have planted them in autumn/early winter. Something I didn’t know before. Hopefully late winter will do. But I know for next time. Shallot sets are fairly expensive, it’d be good to know one day how to produce your own.
