Last week I complained of no garlic scapes for poor me. Then the Mass Extension newsletter arrived Friday with the news that farmers across Massachusetts were harvesting (or sadly in some cases, composting) garlic scapes. Sure enough, a trip to the garden showed I do have scapes, shown above, which appeared almost overnight. I will be enjoying my scapes and not composting them.
The Mass Extension newsletter had some more advice on garlic culture:
- Garlic is forming bulbs now and needs adequate moisture, at least equivalent to 1” per week of rain.
- Likewise, removing competing weeds now is vital to maximizing bulb size.
- Removing the scapes also helps increase bulb size.
- It is way too late to fertilize garlic now, after the summer solstice. That should have been done in the spring.
- Finally, remove any runt, deformed or discolored plants now, since they may be diseased and even if not, they will not be producing useable bulbs. The garlic above is a stunted plant removed from my Viola Francese row, so I will have some green garlic to add to a dish.
So, the garden goes from promise to bounty in a week. Above are, left to right, Green Wave and Dragon's Tongue mustards and Beedy’s Camden kale These were blanched and frozen.
The Win-Win choi is doing well and I harvested a couple of heads, which will be used in a stir fry. I also pulled more radishes, Zlata and Cherry Belle, some of which were starting to bolt. I also pulled a few Hakurei white turnips which I didn’t photograph. And I have also been picking lettuce which I didn’t photograph.
Of course, just as the garden decides to pick up and needs attention, we are leaving for a week. My son is going to water for me and harvest the garlic scapes. Hopefully it doesn’t get real hot so things can hold until I get back. I have never figured a good time to be away during gardening season.
That is all from Bolton this week. To see what other gardeners around the world are harvesting from their gardens, visit our host for Harvest Monday, Daphne's Dandelions.
Composting garlic scapes?!? Oh the horror! Of course we know better than that :) Very nice choi and turnip. I am sure your garden will be fine while you are away. Enjoy your vacation.
ReplyDeleteWHAT? Oh my. I cna't imagine throwing them away! Yours are lovely, as is the rest of your harvest!
ReplyDeleteI just left my garden for a whole week and let me tell you it was hard! Everything was perfectly fine when I got back, so I'm sure yours will be too. Enjoy all those garlic scapes!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvests. I have to say that up until I started gardening again 3 years ago, I had never even heard of scapes. Now, I'm considering building another bed just to increase how many scapes I harvest - oh yes, and I'll get some more garlic out of it too :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful harvest! And WTH with composting scapes?? don't they know that people eat it? I saw it at the farmer market at $4/lb yesteday :)
ReplyDeleteGreat info on garlic! I need to do one last weeding on ours. Great looking pak choi. And those Zlata radishes look almost like potatoes!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Rachel, how could someone toss the garlic scapes. Oh my goodness. And no there is no good time to go on vacation in the summer. Last year I was gone for two weeks in July. I tried to time everything so all the spring crops were out and the summer crops were timed to not produce until I got home. It wasn't perfect, but it worked OK.
ReplyDeleteGarden vs Vacation = tough decision! I told my husband that I just won't leave for more than a few days when the tomatoes start rolling in.
ReplyDeleteIt boggles my mind that farmers could compost a crop that could be sold, unless they weren't able to harvest them in time - double shame.
Hi, Dave, I wanted to tell you that zlata radish is not a Polish variety but Czech. I'm Polish and here this variety is sold as Czech Republic variety. In Polish the word 'golden' translates as złoty (for masculine and neutral words), złota (for feminine words) :)
ReplyDeleteNice blog, btw, I'll be visiting :)
Thanks for the update. Here the Fedco and Seeds from Italy catalogs describe it as a Polish variety, which is where I got my info.
DeleteI've never had garlic scapes and would so love to try them one day.
ReplyDeleteSummer time is no time for holidays for the gardener.