Garlic (Allium sativum) Estonian Red, tearing off roots
There are many ways to treat your garlics after harvest. You can simply shake off some of the dirt, leave it to cure on the ground for days – weeks, you can clean them with a hose, wash them in a bucket ect.
In a book I read how to gently shake off the dirt, cure the garlics for weeks, then trim the roots and clean the garlic with an old toothbrush and cutting the stem.
My dilemma; on one hand I’m too lazy to clean garlics with an old toothbrush, but on the other hand the chef in the kitchen dislike dirty vegetables. Also I won’t take the risk of transmitting stem-and bulb nematodes by washing the garlics in a bucket, and I’m too parsimonious to hose them clean in precious tapwater.
My choice is the leek method, tearing off the roots and one outer leave.
Tearing off one green leave
With this method timing of harvest is essential. Cloves grow in the leaf axils of the inner two or more leaves (most fertile leaves in softneck garlics) – you have to learn your garlic clone. Harvest when there is still at least one green leaf more than the fertile leaves.
Roots I tear off, as I imagine how cutting with a knife or scissor make a larger contact surface for infectants than tearing off by hand.
Around the garlic bulb the leaf split
The leaf split when reaching the bulb. Each part of the leaf I tear down, the rutine comes quickly.
1-2-3 a clean garlic
In no time I hold a clean garlic in my hand, thus can supply a happy chef in the kitchen.
I always tag the clone
An important detail: Handling several clones demand tagging. It’s terribly annoying having mixed up the garlic clones.
To ensure healthy garlic sets, I put the garlic bulbs in order of size before I start cleaning. I start cleaning the biggest, as I will set them again in the autumn. It reduces the risk of transferring diseases to my garlic sets. Cleaning several varieties I wash my hands in between, again in order not to spread infections.
July 17, 2009 at 23:41
What I do is gently shake off the large pieces of dirt, then hang it up to dry/cure for a month. Then I cut the top and the roots off, and the skin at that point just rubs off easily with your fingers, taking the outer layer or two of skin with it.
You can use a toothbrush at that point if there are a few dirty spots left, or you want the roots to be very clean, but it’s often not necessary.
My way really isn’t much work, but your way looks good too!
It looks like you didn’t get any rust this year, is that right?
July 17, 2009 at 23:48
I did get rust this year, but only in a single garlic, standing where I didn’t spray it well with diluted milk. It was a very new attack I discovered the day before it was mature to harvest. I really had not problem this year with garlic rust, I guess partly because I cleaned the garden for all infected leaves last year, and maybe partly because of the milk wash.
July 18, 2009 at 16:41
The rust on my garlic was very light this year, and was no problem really. None of my plants died early from the rust.
A friend who is an organic garlic farmer says he used milk on half his garlic and sulpher powder on the other half. He said he didn’t notice any difference between the two halves, but did get rust a month earlier than me on some of his varieties.
The fact that there was rust on other garlic crops in the country a month before mine, suggests to me the milk helped, even if milk was also used on the garlic that got rust earlier.
It is hard to know for sure however…
July 19, 2009 at 16:41
I agree, and will continue the milk wash in year to come.
I’ve noticed, that the wax like surface of the garlic leaves tend to let the milk wash dry in spots instead of an even cover. This could explain why it seems to work, but isn’t perfect.
August 12, 2009 at 01:35
Hi there,
I have been looking for a source for a commercial source of Caucasian Spinach to no avail…while looking around I found your blog.
Would you be willing to swap or sell me some of yours?
If so, feel free to email me and I can send you a list of what I have to trade…or you can visit my site and see what i have and I’ll be glad to send you whatever you’d like.
Thanks for your help!
Pam
August 12, 2009 at 10:11
Hi Pam.
I had my first seeds of Caucasian Spinach this spring, but unfortunately they had been accidentially exchanged with a batch of Mercury seeds. Now I have a lot of Mercury in my garden, but no Caucasian Spinach. I know I’ll get a chance next year, I just have to be patient.
I’m not sure Caucasian Spinach will grow in your warm climate?
I guess the first commercial source will be B&T Seeds:
http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/
but they don’t list it for the time being.
Sorry, not much help for you to aquire seeds.
September 9, 2009 at 05:18
Good to read how other people go about the task and the rust spray.
I usually brush any large clumps of dirt off and hang them. Now I only clean a few before bringing them inside as I’m too lazy to do a good job of it.
January 26, 2011 at 01:50
Hi Everyone, thanks for the garlic tips, this is my first year growing my garlic and picked it WAY later than i should by the looks of it, i had not realised the bulb is meant to be covered all over with skin (should have thought since i do buy it at the shops) so i only had individual clove skins on them and much of them got scrubbed off in the sink lol, i was expecting to be clean looking with washing but no, skins are quite stained but now clean. I have not heard about this rust issue, none on mine, i was surprised at the size of the cloves given its my first year growing them and i let them flower and die down before picking.
February 15, 2011 at 22:11
I think rust in garlic is only a problem in some areas, rare in others, and unknown in places. It need specific temperatures and humidity to attack the growing garlics.
Enjoy your garlics!
January 15, 2012 at 20:29
Anyone have an easier way to clean cloves of garlic than picking the skin off with your fingers? Is there a tool you can purchase? It’s so tedious and time consuming!
January 15, 2012 at 20:58
If it’s garlic for your own consumption, I suggest you just dry them, and the brush of the dirt before taking them to the kitchen.