Last fall I planted some of the bulbils that were at the ends of scapes of my Persian Star (hardneck) garlic. The scapes were quite mature and woody because I let them grow for a week or two after I noticed them, giving time for the bulbils to form. They looked like little teardrops with papery coverings. They grew in pots in my greenhouse over the winter. I should investigate to see what is happening underground.

The links above make me think that if I planted some of those cloves that are just thin slivers, the ones I don't want to bother peeling, they might produce green garlic. They sure wouldn't produce much of a bulb. My garlic, and my neighbors, don't need to be thinned (as one article said the green garlic was thinnings from garlic rows), because we use a tool that makes several planting holes spaced 6 or 8 inches apart.

See what is growing underground, Mary. If something is there that will just give me a concrete reason to plant mine. Ken

Ok, I looked. I had planted about 9 bulbils in a 4 inch nursery pot. In spite of my forgetting to water them sometimes, almost all of them grew. The plants are about 4 inches high, and have a small bulb, with roots going to the bottom of the pot. Hmmm, next year I will give them better growing conditions (not so crowded, deeper pot, remember to water consistently).

Yes Ken, plant them! What have you got to loose? I think they would be a good source of green garlic for winter use. Small, but if you plant enough of them......

I probably have 6-8 nice size scapes and until I actually open them up, I don't know what I will find to plant. I could end up with dozens of baby bulbs or perhaps seeds. I will plant what I find. This could be added to my inventory, particularly for winter shipping, since I can't ship my tropical plants from December until March. Thanks for taking a look.

OK, all you green garlic lookers and lovers. These are the scapes from the Schilla, a hardneck garlic. I guess these are baby bulbs that have now expanded enough to have broken the scape covering. Yesterday they were still enclosed. I must have 12-15 of these scapes on this one variety and if what I see so far is any indication, I will end up with over 100 "bulblets" to plant. Stay tuned.




and the curing garlic bulbs

Nice!

I just happened to buy some 'New Belt' Chinese Leeks/Garlic Chives.
(Allium tuberosum)

I take it that is quite different from "normal" garlic (Allium sativum )

Johnny's Seeds call it perennial, though other sources call the species an annual herb.
15-18". tall. Wide, flat leaves. ("Much larger and darker green plants than our 925 Garlic Chive")
75-85 days to harvest.
Leaves up to 10mm in width can be used green or blanched
cut flowers?
reseed very heavily. Very invasive?

I don't know what you have but it is certainly not similar to my garlic chives. Much thicker stems, though flattish like mine. My Italian chives (potato topping) and garlic chives always flower in the spring, kind of die back some, and then regrow. They grow best in the cool months with darker stems (leaves?). All mine are in large pots and I have had the same plants for four years. I have no clue which specific two varieties I have. If I ever had labels they are long gone.

I have been following this conversation , and by the numbers so have many others .
Very interesting
It makes sense that green garlic would be immature garlic kinda like green onions are immature onions. (or sometimes bunching onions)

I have grown the garlic chives (allium tuberosum) for years . they flower late in the summer (white bloom) and should be deadheaded if you do not want them to take over (I agree with the invasive label) . They supposedly are good to zone 7 but mine come back regularly here in zone 5.

I have some garlic out in the herb bed that was planted 3+ years ago and never harvested , I need to dig some it is small so I never expected to get bulbs (heads ) of any size so just never dug it up . Maybe I have green garlic?

Watching the experiment.
Cinda

It makes sense that this 'New Belt' Chinese Leeks/Garlic Chives Allium tuberosum is different from "regular garlic". The roots are never mentioned. It sounds just like Cinda's - flowers late summer, reseed ferociously, [P].

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6...

There seems to be some law that no edible plant can ever be given a NEW name.
Why does it need to be called all three things (leek, chive and garlic)? I guess so that it will SOUND familiar!

Like "Spinach Mustard" (Komatsuna - Brassica rapa var. komatsuna )
Or "Chinese Kale / Broccoli" (Gai Lan)

Cinda, you might be surprised at what is underground. Anyway, if you dig some up, save the larger cloves for replanting and eat the small ones. When replanting, (fall for hardneck garlic, spring for softneck)space them about 6 inches apart and the next year they should be larger.

I planted a bunch of the hardneck bulblets today and will start them in one of my greenhouse. When they sprout and have good root systems I will transplant them to the raised garden. Time will tell whether this will be the source of "green garlic". If they grow, I should have a lot of it. Ken

I plant hadneck, softneck and elephant garlic in the fall. I know that you can plant softneck in the spring but it dosen't do as well as my fall planted crop.

Patti, you know that "elephant" garlic is an onion, not a garlic?

I plant all my garlic in the fall. It is a cool-weather crop, regardless of the variety. These hardneck bulblets are being started now so that they will be ready for transplanting in the fall. I may go ahead and plant a handful this summer, just to see what happens. Another experiment!

These hardneck bulblets are supposed to be a very mild garlic. At least that is what I read. Though they are just about the size of the head of a small match, they are really quite strong. I sprinkled 8-10 on my wife's and my salads last night, and the garlic taste was undeniable. My wife's comment this morning was "I still taste the garlic!" Ken

Elephant garlic is more closely related to leeks than to onions, although all of them are alliums. When I looked up leeks, Wikipedia gave me this information: The leek is a vegetable that belongs, along with onion and garlic, to the genus Allium, currently placed in family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae.[1] Historically many scientific names were used for leeks, which are now treated as cultivars of Allium ampeloprasum.[2] Two related vegetables, elephant garlic and kurrat, are also cultivars of A. ampeloprasum, although different in their uses as food.

Yes, I know that Elaphant garlic is not true garlic but I don't know what else to call it because that is what it is called. I have ate leeks, onions and garlic and the Elephant garlic taste like garlic to me, so they could change the name and I would still use it as a garlic.

So would I, Patti. It looks like garlic and tastes like it, so that is how we use it and see it displayed at grocery stores and farmer's markets. Somewhere (maybe a seed catalog), I read that it is a segmented leek.

Oh, I wish I had some of my gourmet garlic left, Mary and Patti. I would send you some. Alas, I sold far more than I had available and disappointed a lot of people. Hopefully next year, the weather will be better and I will have a larger harvest. Ken

I am waiting for next years harvest.

@drdawg
Ken,
How did the planting of the scape bulbils go? Did you get any "green garlic" or bigger bulbs to replant?

Toni