We pulled our garlic two weeks ago. We wish we had saved the name of this garlic because, oh my! It’s beautiful and it’s huge. We’d love to grow this every year. We need to bring some back to our nursery and ask them what varieties they carried last fall to see if we can figure out what we grew. With garlic, you need to put it in shade in a cool, dry place immediately after pulling it. We’ve learned from unfortunate experience that you don’t leave it out on the soil to cure as you do with onions or they will rot. This peeled head of garlic I held in my hands was a day old, as the days passed the cloves turned an even deeper shade of purple. Gorgeous!
The drought and our lack of watering caused many of our artichokes to die back, but a few survived. These were picked from artichokes that grew out of the side of the compost pile. Now we know, artichokes really like compost!
And now the onions are inside too. The white onions did fine, but these Early Burger Red onions, planted from sets on November 10th, have done incredibly. We’re blown away at their size. If ever we had wondered if it was worth the effort to put in gopher proof raised beds, this here confirmed it for us. Gophers love onions and we always battled with them. This year between their pest free growing area, nutrient rich, soft soil they grew as big as they possibly could. Unlike with the garlic, we pulled these and let them sit out on top of the soil to cure. We turned them every few days and then brought them inside. Unfortunately these aren’t good storage onions, so we’re doing our best to make good use of them. So it’s been onion soup, carmelized onions, onion tarts….
It is a lovely feeling indeed to feel successful at gardening again. Nothing will make you feel good like having a good gardening year after a handful of difficult and discouraging years.
How is your garden doing this year?
Lovely!
Since moving to Ecuador we have been trying to figure out what our “growing” seasons are.. I have watched the neighbors to see what they plant and when. And now we snuck a bunch of seeds back from the US, to see if we can get growing the veggies we miss the most..
In the mean time I will have garden envy and what you are harvesting!
Hi Kendra,
I can’t seem to see other comments, but if no one else has mentioned it, set aside some of your garlic to plant in the fall. You will then have the exact type and not have to invest in buying more…a double win! It all looks beautiful.
Hi Kendra! Could your garlic be Russian Red or White Lahontan, they look like either of the two I grow and are huge and aromatic and delicious! I think it’s the Russian that produces the scapes. I set aside a number of individual cloves for fall planting (like Cathy suggested) and then I freeze the rest of them (unpeeled) in Ball jars – which lasts until the next garlic harvest! Love your garden, photos, and stories.
I’ll have to try that onion variety. I have yet to have good luck with any of mine, they never seem to bulb. Thankfully my mom grows some that are about as big as my head- she’s in a long day zone and has super sandy soil, so she’s my onion and garlic supplier. I pulled my early CA white garlic, but the hardneck don’t seem quite there yet. I pulled a few, but they hadn’t cloved yet.
We didn’t get our onions in till much later in the year (Mid February), so we have yet to harvest them. Next year I’ll have to do as you do and plant in November! Love your blog for Sonoma County tips!
Looks delicious!
Lovely images every one! I have never had results like those with either garlic or onions.