One of the reasons for our excitement are the results in our Porcelain patch. It is June 14th and we will soon be harvesting the bulbs. In this patch we are growing 6 different varieties. Susan Delafield, Music, Georgian Fire, Majestic, Georgian Crystal and Portugal Azures. In the photos below you will see they are currently in the process of going to scape and we will soon be removing the scapes. We scape our porcelain’s once the scape is fully developed in most cases once it has curled 2 times but before it starts to straighten out and stand up. We remove the scapes so that the energy that is going into growing the scape up will then be redirected down into the bulb to maximize bulb size. It is important to remove the scapes at the right time. Too soon and the plant will quit developing and shorten its life cycle and to late you will likely give up some bulb size. These scapes are completely edible and delicious.

You will also notice in the photos that the plants themselves are large stemmed, tall and even though they are in the scaping process are still very healthy and vigorous looking.

The AMAZING THING is that these porcelain plants are second year plants grown from bulbils. Industry standard says that it takes 3 to 5 years to grow a market size Porcelain bulb from bulbils. Here is an example of the quality of plant that may be attained if you are taking care of your soil health through cover cropping and feeding the soil and plants with proper organic amendments. As you can see from the photos, we are anticipating market size bulbs from this second-year crop.

A major goal for our farm from the beginning a short 3 years ago was to try to grow all our garlic bulbs from bulbils grown here on our farm and to produce the largest and healthiest garlic possible. We believe that when you purchase seed stock your best short- and long-term results will be from seed stock that comes from bulbils, young and vigorous with the least chance of any exposure to virus or disease and that will adapt itself to your local growing conditions quickly.

Dennis Dargatz
Great Garlic