Well Beeker, lookie here: https://practicalselfreliance.com/growing-garlic-from-seed/ It is nice, albeit long-winded; however, very interesting. I can imagine that you may find it helpful when going for trying planting the seeds ( we call them “bulbils”). They will probably take longer than planting the cloves. See what you think.
HA! Wish granted! Here are some pics of my garlic. I trimmed and brushed them off this morning, took the smallest ones with the least paper to cook with and bagged the rest. These 4 are being set aside for planting in November. I ordered more of a different kind to try. One concern I have is that I found a few cloves with these: What should I expect to find inside these? Do the cloves still have a shelf life? Are they edible? Also, this is the bed I planted the broccoli seeds in. Will whatever made these holes hurt my broccoli? I will be planting the garlic in a different bed this coming autumn. They will go in the beds that I will be planting Swiss Chard and Kohlrabi in to harvest in October. What should I do to get rid of and prevent whatever made these holes? How much time does the bed need to rest between harvest and planting the next crop? Sorry for all of the questions. I appreciate all the help and tips I can get!
Hiya Beeker. I believe the holes in your garlic bulbs are caused by what may be called “wireworms”. These are the larvae of what later will be click beetles. What you will find inside are possibly pupae of the larvae. I would simply destroy the cloves with damage. You would nit have to worry too much about them being your bed, as they could be in the clove. You could always lightly dig up the whole bed and remove the wireworms. They are sort of a bright rusty-colour. They are tough and hard. So, you will have to give them a stiff smack to kill them. I encounter these guys when I am removing spuds, leeks or just hoeing. I make sure to destroy every single one that I find because they are very destructive. They do not destroy all plants. I do not believe that they would pose a problem to broccoli or Swiss Chard. Still you do not want these in your garden soil. Good luck with these little devils. Let me know what you find in those cloves, if you look. Please do destroy them though. The beds do not need much time before planting the next round of crops, just give them some well-rotted compost or manure about two weeks after planting. If you choose to work this into your soil before planting, then you ought to wait a month before planting. That would wind up being too late for you then.
Oh, my poor garlic! I didn't see those wireworms in the bed. I plan on using diatomaceous earth in that bed after I harvest the broccoli to kill the jumping worms. Will it kill the wireworms, too? The garlic will be grown in a different bed this autumn, safely away from the jumping worms and wireworms. I saw @marlingardener 's thread about purple garlic where the question was how it tasted. Funny, I hadn't tried one. I've been working on doing it right, letting it cure, trimming, bagging. I had set a few of the small ones aside to start using this week, but still hadn't tasted them yet. Reading that post finally woke me from my "trying to do it right and by the book" stupor. I finally grabbed one, sliced into it and... oh the smell was beautiful... you know, for garlic. I warmed some in EVOO and the aroma of the gentle cooking was delightful. I took a small piece of bread and lifted some slices of the garlic onto it and the taste was absolutely dreamy. The heat of the flavor, even the aftertaste is just perfect. I'll never do store-bought again.
I do not know if diatomaceous earth will kill wireworms, but I will bet that it will not, for they are as tough as old boots. It is so delightful to read your enthusiastic impressions of the purple garlic. You know, those wireworms may have only eaten through a couple of layers of the garlic bulb and not burrowed into the clove. Perhaps you ought to check if this scarring is only a couple of layers deep, you can then go and and use the clove after all.
Update: I've been enjoying my garlic and (surprisingly enough) giving a few small ones away as samplers to share. (I guess my excitement about my successful harvest makes me generous.) I plan on making that garlic/honey stuff for flu season, as it has been highly recommended by a few people. One thing I noticed when cooking with my garlic is that my better-half and I don't sleep well after eating it. It doesn't upset our stomachs nor is there a bothersome aftertaste. We just aren't tired. I did some research and found that it does affect some people that way. I guess my better-half and I fall into that "some people" category. The store-bought stuff doesn't affect us this way, only our garden garlic. Has anybody else had this experience? I guess I'll have to plan early dinners when I use our garlic.
