Constancia Wiweru

Last year, I let a couple of the metechis I grew go to seed, and I planted the bulbils. Some of the bulbs that grew from that batch were nearly normal size and some were teeny. If you look at the picture, most were like the one in the middle. On the left is one of the cloves from a larger bulb and on the right, one of the smaller cloves. I think I planted about 50 and ended up with 27.

I think what I'll do is plant them all this fall, even the teeny ones. My thoughts are that if I could get good-sized bulbs from bulbils, I should do okay with those itty bitty cloves. Guess we'll see.

My takeaway: I guess it's possible to get a regular first-year harvest from just bulbils, even if the end product is small.

P.S. I did not end up with any "rounds", as some people do.

P.P.S. I'm in zone 6a, with soil that has lots of clay. I planted in November.

Roberto pokachinni wrote:
Two seasons is what it should take to produce proper heads.  
...
Then when the grass like garlic comes up from the bulbils, I cut out the two or three weakest ones, and allow the strongest single one to live.  I nurture the ground surface of my raised beds with compost and manure and mulch with hay, and water it well in the spring and early summer, but allow it to dry in the later summer, particularly on the final year.  

One of the benefits of growing from bulbils is that the garlic stays in the ground for two years, thus developing a very strong associated community in the no till raised bed, when compared with an annual crop done with fall planted cloves harvested the next late summer.    

Wait, so you don't lift and replant? You let them stay in the ground?

Zone 6b. I planted elephant garlic cloves last November. One I ordered from a company and the other was just whatever I bought from Walmart. This was my first time planting elephant garlic, and yes I removed the scapes.

Well, it's no bigger than my metechi and musik varieties normally get (oddly, THOSE are also small this year). On a positive note, there are little babies hanging off of most of them.

Why is my garlic small this year? The soil has lots of clay, but that's what I always plant in. I planted it in a new bed, adjacent to where I've planted in the past. Was there too much rain?  If I plant those babies this fall, will they need to be harvested and replanted, like you do bulbils?

Josh Hoffman wrote:In my location, at this time of year, I would wait and use the time to spread some compost and mulch and be ready for cooler weather.

I am not sure how July translates from zone 8 to 6 but with the intense sun, heat, humidity, periods of drought, I would really need to babysit any new starts or transplants. I'd probably have to shade them and water regularly until they were established.

Good point. It's been in the 90s for weeks here, so I'd struggle to keep seedlings and even transplants alive!

Hey, there. I had some serious health challenges this year, so I didn't get much planted. Thinking that I'd be up to gardening, my husband tarped a good-sized area, and tilled it up this weekend.

I either need a good layer of mulch, a cover crop or some veggies. What would you do if you were in zone 6b? It's a loamy clay soil, by the way.

Just came to say that I love this idea and wish you many blessings!

I worked at a residential home for sex-trafficked women. I focused a lot on economical, "intuitive" cooking, using what was on hand and not running to the store for things that weren't necessary.

We used rice and spice, and it was always good.

Spice was soy sauce or salt and whatever else, like black pepper, red pepper flakes, granulated garlic or onion, whatever.

"Meat" was whatever protein we had on hand, or egg. Sometimes both. I've done shrimp.

Veggies would be garlic, onions, peas, carrots or whatever we had. You could also used canned veggies that are often found in Asian cuisine, such as baby corn, water chestnut, sprouts, etc.

I see there are so many good ideas for you already. We keep gochujang on hand, but I never thought of using it in fried rice. I'm going to try, though!

T Bate wrote:
I didn't know hostas were edible. I'm going to have to remember this.

I just found out last year and sacrificed a few. Not bad, but not a once-a-year thing that I crave (like garlic shoots). I probably won't mess with it next spring.

Alina Green wrote:Hah, I was just talking to a friend last night about guinea pig...
What do you think it tasted like, or why did you have an aversion?  I'm interested, especially since I've gone back to eating flesh foods again after being a vegetarian for decades.

The skin was tough and hard to get off of the bone. When I got to an actual piece of flesh, it tasted...garbage-y? Like what rotten broccoli and milk would smell like. LOL Sorry.

We raised them, too, for someone else, but I never cooked one. You might be one of those who likes it, but I hated it.

Fried guinea pig. We lived in Peru and my husband worked at a carpentry shop behind a neighbor's house. As a perk, the guy's wife would feed the workers because the wages were low (about $5 a day in 2021--yes, we had my hubby's military retirement check as well).

Anyway, my husband would generally run home for lunch. Since we were friends, the woman would sometimes invite me to join them, so I'd run down there instead of him coming home. She was a good cook.

After about the 3rd time, she served guinea pig. My easy-to-please Army husband managed to eat it but I held back the gags. I know I was visibly struggling because the guy across the table kept looking at me with the biggest expressions of compassion. LOL. I ate a few tiny pieces and then tapped out, more due to taste than aversion. I'm a meat lightweight, though.