Here's what's left from last year...........these made it 11 months! This plate is sun drying and will be half put in jars as dried whole cloves and I'll grind the balance for garlic powder.
I give some away to friends, but the bulk of it, I eat roasted. I cut the tops to expose each clove, drizzle with olive oil, with some sea salt and bake that in the oven. OMG, that shit is good. All the sharpness/fire is gone, and the cloves caramelize, it's like garlic flavored candy. You can just pinch a clove and it will squeeze right up. Folks that say garlic is too hot for them are blown away by the taste, and mildness and it's really simple to make. Very tasty and mellow eating. I eat my share fresh also!
With the hardnecks, you get a harvest of garlic scapes about a month prior to the bulbs being ready. These can be frozen for eternity and they come back fresh from the freezer. I stir fry the scapes, which I enjoy more than the actual bulbs (maybe) Then the bulbs come in, which are both food and future seed. Technically if you play it right, garlic is a one time expenditure.
I get two crops from it, and then beans in the space later. It's a productive, vegatatively fueled cycle. No animals eat it and that's a plus here. It can pioneer new beds outside the fence. And I can put up both harvests and eat thruout the year. That's big, I like to grow what I can put up.
Do you cover crop when beds are done? Because if you can't get a second bean crop in that's ok, as long as it starts. You got to kill the beans when they flower for maximum soil benefit. And the benefits are very real.
I'm a fan, lol
