Farm Notes
This morning I woke up to the beautiful sight of a glistening, frost-covered farm – the first frost of fall here at Farmbelly HQ! The first frost marks the official end of our summer growing season – so goodbye to the few remaining peppers + eggplant – and helloooo to heaps more leafy greens and root veggies, which are made even sweeter by the cold temps.
Yesterday was an exciting day around here… next season’s garlic is officially in the ground! We planted 150 row feet of garlic, focusing on 4 different varieties: Music, Violet Spring, German Hardy White, and Purple Creole. To help control weeds over garlic’s long growing season (it won’t get harvest until next June) we plant them into landscape fabric – though you definitely don’t need to do that if you’re just growing a small amount of garlic in your home garden.
*A note that we have quite a bit of extra garlic seed leftover from our planting yesterday, so if you're local and you'd like some cloves just shoot me a message and I'll happily give you a bag of 20-30 cloves (for free of course)!
It may not look very exciting yet… but there is a LOT of garlic in the ground in these beds!
Did you know there are several different kinds of garlic? Here’s a quick rundown:
Hardneck garlic produce a stiff stem that grows up through the center of the bulb. Compared to softneck varieties, they have a sharper flavor, with more variation in flavor among the varieties. They are also hardier than softneck, so they are the best option for growing in cold climates. This is the variety that produces garlic scapes that need to be pulled (and then enjoyed!) in early summer before the garlic is harvested.
Softneck garlic don't produce a stiff central stem. Softneck garlic is the best choice for regions with mild winters, it has a more mild flavor than hardneck garlic, and it's the type to grow if you want to make garlic braids.
Elephant garlic resembles a giant head of garlic and, indeed, it does belong to the same genus, Allium. However, it isn't a "true" garlic but rather is more closely related to the leek.
Ok, now here are some helpful pointers for planting garlic:
Plan to plant garlic in the fall, ideally between Halloween and Thanksgiving (aka right now)!
Prepare your soil by loosening it with a fork/broadfork, and work in a good amount of compost into the bed. Garlic is a “heavy feeder” and requires a lot of nutrients, so having good quality soil is important to get a good crop.
Purchase garlic seed from your local farm/garden store (not the supermarket)! Just prior to planting, break up the garlic heads into individual cloves, leaving as much of the papery covering on each clove intact as possible.
Plant cloves 3"-4" deep and 4”-6” apart, orienting them so the pointy ends face up and root end is pointing down.
Water gently to settle the soil, and then cover the bed with a 4" to 6" layer of leaves or straw. You will likely see some green shoots starting to grow before the end of the year, which is great! They will really start to take off in the spring.
Kitchen Notes
While we’ve got garlic on the brain, let’s talk about cooking with this delicious and powerful member of the allium family! Not only does garlic add heaps of flavor to dishes, it also has incredible health benefits – it helps boost your immune system, works as an anti-inflammatory, can help lower blood pressure, and has great anti-fungal + anti-microbial properties. And there are SO many different ways that garlic can get worked into your daily diet… don’t be afraid to think outside the box!
Here are some tips + links for all the ways that you can enjoy garlic:
ROAST IT – One of my favorite ways to cook garlic is roasting a whole head in the oven, until it becomes a sweet, nutty, caramelized delicacy. Here's a great guide on how to roast whole heads of garlic in the oven.
MINCE IT – You can’t beat simply minced raw garlic. My tip for mincing garlic quickly? Use a microplane!
SAUTE IT – So you’ve minced your garlic and you’re ready to throw it in a sizzling hot pan, right? WAIT! Garlic is super delicate and can burn to a crisp in the blink of an eye, so make sure your pot/pan isn’t blasting heat before adding and cooking your garlic. Sometimes if I’m adding garlic at the end of a dish, I’ll even turn the stove completely off before adding the garlic, and I’ll let the residual heat from the pan gently cook it.
FERMENT IT – That’s right, you really can ferment garlic! Here is a super simple recipe/method for making fermented garlic in honey. The end result is deliciously sweet + funky garlic, as well as honey that’s been gently infused with garlic flavor (delicious in vinaigrettes, with fried chicken, over pizza, cornbread, etc).
PICKLE IT – Another great way to preserve garlic is to pickle it! The process couldn’t be easier – just pack whole peeled cloves of garlic into an acidic brine, along with any other aromatics you’d like. Here is a great recipe to get you started.
Today’s Stats
Low temp: 29F
High temp: 54F
Sunrise: 7:43am
Sunset: 6:18pm
Moon phase: Waning crescent
Additional notes: First frost! Clear and sunny