First and Second Generation Garlic

I love growing my own garlic! This is year 4 or 5 for me. And each year I get better at it. And each year I seem to encounter a new challenge.

One year I planted two varieties, Oregon Blue and Susanville, and forgot to label them. I was so sure I would remember! See A Garlic Flavored Lesson.

Another year I let the Susanville garlic sit in the sun thinking it would hasten the drying process.  OOPS! Fried garlic. Because I use a portion of my harvest for next years crop, I no longer have Susanville.  Only Oregon Blue.

The 2011 harvest ended up small.  But I kept some 2010 braids (they looked too pretty to throw out). I checked them and they looked like they were ready to go. So five rows of the garlic I planted last fall were 18 months old.  The other seven rows were 2011 harvest and only six months old.

Two generations of garlic

"This will be interesting to see what happens", I thought. Amazingly the older bulbs came up first.  They were 3 inches high by December.  The newer bulbs came up slower but were more consistent growers.  Until March when everybody took off.



In the end, no difference in size or taste.  Good to know don't you think?

Great bulbs but smaller braids

However I did have a bigger challenge with the garlic this year.  Last year my garlic had a touch of garlic rust.  I didn't think much of it and because I follow a 4-5 year rotation, I thought all would be fine.




But no, the rust was back. The wet and cool spring played a large role.  The garlic bulbs are unaffected, but I had to make smaller braids and they are not as pretty as I'd like.


 And now I am reading all about this rust and figuring out how an organic gardener deals with this pesky problem. Any solution or experiences regarding garlic rust are welcome.