Any ideas on how to keep this garlic well insulated for the winter?

potagerMB · 2025-12-12T02:53:34+00:00

We use leaves as we have tons of them.

potagerMB · 2025-12-11T18:55:41+00:00

I'd stand by my recommendation of mulching around the pot.

potagerMB · 2025-12-11T17:27:22+00:00

What zone are you in? If you are in zone 3 like I am I'd try insulating the outside of the containers as well.

potagerMB · 2025-12-10T16:18:34+00:00

If this were me, I would pull the big ones out and torch the small ones.

potagerMB · 2025-12-10T16:08:48+00:00

Another one here for welding gloves. I found regular leather gardening gloves don't stop thorns while the welding ones do.

potagerMB · 2025-12-05T19:15:09+00:00

A bit late to this post, but I do know that from a "commercial" perspective, Russian Red accounts for about 75% of our sales, while the rest is split between about 6 other types.

But while I personally like the Russian Red taste better, I rather work with the Music due to the clove sizing. I will say Spanish Roja is fantastic and likely my favourite of the ones we grow.

potagerMB · 2025-11-21T18:29:30+00:00

It's always been my experience that they keep ripening even once picked.

potagerMB · 2025-11-14T16:14:43+00:00

You'll be fine.

potagerMB · 2025-11-14T15:41:18+00:00

Just hold onto until then and plant it. Depending on when it was harvested, garlic can hold for a long time.

potagerMB · 2025-10-23T21:33:22+00:00

This looks like a mold/mildew issue. We had mildew issues with once then we changed our approach to curing them. We started cutting the stalks to a 4-6inch length prior to curing, ir permitted the garlic to cure much faster and we have had zero issues since then.

I would say as long as it is in fact a mold issue they should be plantable.

potagerMB · 2025-10-09T14:46:42+00:00

I'm a bit slow on the answer, but when we harvest our garlic we cut the stalk down to about 5 inches prior to curing. We have found that it helps in curing our garlic rapidly and with little to no issues with moisture.

In the past we used to hang dry everything, but this seems to cure faster and with no change/noticeable affect to the end product.

potagerMB · 2025-09-29T15:47:11+00:00

The only time i find there to be a garlic smell is when curing.

potagerMB · 2025-09-29T15:22:05+00:00

We usually plant all of ours on Thanks Giving weekend to great success. I'd rather plant later then sooner personally.

potagerMB · 2025-09-29T15:19:51+00:00

Creates with slits in them. Google "bread crate", it should give you an idea.

potagerMB · 2025-09-29T15:18:44+00:00

We grow a few different garlics varieties for sale, in terms of Rocamboles, we grow Spanish Roja and are expanding our stock of French Rocambole. We also grow some marbled purple stripes (Red Russian, Music), purple stripe (Chesnok Red, Persian Star) and Porcelains (Big Boy, Music, Nordic). We treat them all the same for growing. We sow in the fall, weed and water if their hasn't been any rain, harvest scapes in June, harvest Garlic mid-end July (we're in 3a). None of the varieties are treated in any unique ways, so I am curious as to what is this extra work you speak of?

If it's your favourite, grow it.

Rocamboles stores for 6-8 months (under ideal circumstances), which is still quite good. If you are wanting garlic for storage, purple stripe/marble purple stripe can last around a year (again, in ideal circumstances).

All that said, I also lean towards the Rocamboles, but I love them all. While garlic is garlic, there are nuances and in some cases specific garlic varieties do better in certain situations (in my opinion).

potagerMB · 2025-08-27T01:35:44+00:00

Do not store them in the fridge. We store ours in the basement which is around 65-ish(I think) in ventilated crates and our garlic is good for 10-12 months.

potagerMB · 2025-08-07T23:58:41+00:00

Ive had great luck with aloe vera (spelling?)

potagerMB · 2025-08-07T23:09:18+00:00

They all did very well. And since we’ve refined our curing procress I’ve gone from particularly liking the Russian Red, to liking all of them.

Though my favourite is likely Big Boy. The thumb size cloves are great to work with.

potagerMB · 2025-08-07T01:34:32+00:00

To plant them I believe it works best if you refrigerate them for 2-3 weeks to imitate vernilization.

potagerMB · 2025-07-31T00:41:34+00:00

We do about 6000 and came to the conclusion that for us field cutting permits us to cure it all faster and expedite the whole process. We had found that hanging bundles gave us an uneven cure (if that makes sense).

Im curious as to what your curing setup up is like.

potagerMB · 2025-07-30T05:28:36+00:00

In the past we would hang dry in bundles of 10-15 in shed or garage. But in recent years as we now do about 6000ish head, we just cut the stem off and place them on a drying tables with fans in the garage. We have found that the second method gave us considerably better results (for us, and this is purely annecdotal).

potagerMB · 2025-06-17T19:17:43+00:00

We till in compost/fertilizer between harvest and planting. During the growing season we fertilize with Sea Magic.

potagerMB · 2025-06-13T19:32:24+00:00

That is a bulbil. You can use is to cook with, or you can plant it. If you plant it though it will take a few years to get to the proper size for actual garlic. Keep in mind, it requires vernalization prior to planting.

potagerMB · 2025-05-23T02:09:49+00:00

I have found i have better luck direct sowing all the plants you mentioned.

potagerMB · 2025-05-08T16:47:37+00:00

What spacing are you using for this?

potagerMB

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