Learning about / and Planting Garlic and Shallots

Well this year hasn't really gone as planned.  Turns out i'm about as lazy as I thought i'd be :).  However, I've learned quite a bit about gardening.  First and foremost saving seeds, if you're lazy, is actually very easy :).  For the most part all I have to do is not do anything, until the seed pods turn all brown and die.  It's very easy.  I've saved Coriander (cilantro), Basil, and Peas, all of which were easy and fun to do (and my kids loved helping).

So the season is over right?  Well, not exactly.  It's time to plant your shallots and garlic.  Garlic planting is one of those that you plant early in the winter, as close to the last frost as possible, though this date varies depending on where you look, next year I'll let you know if Nov. 10th was the right date next summer :).  Garlic will get roots before it freezes too much, and the deeper freeze will tell the clove that it's time to multiply.  This will make for a better head next year.  Shallots, which are in the same basic family as onions and garlic, work very much the same way.

My Crop this Year
So i planted out about 50 or 60 garlic plants in a 4ft x 4ft area in my garden, which should be replaced by a fall crop next summer.  I also ordered some hard neck garlic (doesn't store as well, but is supposed to taste better) from ebay, we'll see how it works out.  Ideally with garlic, after your first year you shouldn't need to buy seed again unless you get a soil disease or something.  So possibly I'll be able to give garlic seeds to anyone in the area next year if they're interested.  I'll be planting the garlic, and the shallots I just bought on ebay, as soon as they arrive.

Seeding Garlic
Although for the most part garlic is planted by growing cloves, there's another way to do it which is very much like letting the plants go to seed.  The garlic will create a large pod which will contain several small garlic cloves, called bulbils.  These bulbils have the added benefit of not having soil born diseases, so saving some of these each year increases your chances of never losing your crop entirely.  But what's the drawback?  Bulbils take 2-3 years to grow :).  The 1st year they'll grow into 1 or 2 cloves, then several small cloves, and then finally they'll be full grown.

So why grow bulbils at all?  There's really not a reason not to.  If you leave 1 in 5 of your garlic to go to seed, you can still eat the left over bulb, though some people say that they can be smaller than normal.  You can also eat the bulbils as small garlic cloves if you really want to.  They really are just small cloves, and will likely taste the same.  So growing bulbils is a way to further your crop, so why not :).

Evidently Shallots aren't as nice, and unless you get the right variety they don't grow bulbils or seed at all.  So for now, shallots will be from "cloves" each year.  Though they multiply so they should keep for years to come.  And since they're so expensive at the store :) it's worth the investment.


UPDATE 12-8-2012
Rather than adding a new post, i figured i'd just update this one throughout the year with how things are going, though I imagine when I get pictures that'll change :).

I just bought 3oz of Music Garlic cloves off ebay, got them today, and planted out.  Turned out being 30 cloves, so i have 5 rows of 6, they're 8 inches apart.  I'm really looking forward to these, i've read many posts that say this taste the best and are great for roasting and spreading on bread.