As with the tomatoes, I would have liked to have more detailed descriptions of flavor, but I haven't gotten around to tasting all of them yet, and all of them are much better than store bought, so the tastings would probably be something like, "good, really good, and really really good," which probably isn't that helpful. Therefore, these reviews will be more about the overall health and vigor of the plants rather than their individual culinary qualities.
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 6/14/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 9
SSE Description: Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#7204), but originally from Moscow. Beautifully marbled brown or purple striped cloves. Good storage qualities. Consistently one of the largest garlics grown at Heritage Farm. Hardneck, 5-7 cloves per bulb.
One of the weird things that happened is my purple garlics didn't end up purple. Sure, the Bogatyr and other purple garlics I received from SSE were purple, but then their offspring were all white. I wonder if that's an environmental thing. Anyway, Bogatyr wasn't one of my largest garlics, more like the size garlic bulbs from the store are, but it was still one of my best performing hardnecks, which generally don't do as well in the South as softnecks. I picked out these four to replant. This was pretty much the only hardneck I grew that left me with some decent bulbs for eating. Definitely will continue growing this one.
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 5/29/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 24
SSE Description: Nice big tan cloves with a hint of red. Cooked flavor is very nice, described as mild and full flavored. When raw the flavor is hot to very hot. Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#146). Softneck, 8-12 cloves per bulb.
All of my softnecks did better than the hardnecks (and were ready for harvest earlier), and of those, Broadleaf Czech had the second highest yield. I picked out these three for replanting and have been eating the rest, since there were plenty left over. Looks like this will be a good, dependable variety for me to plant year after year.
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 5/20/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 26
SSE Description: Highly productive and adaptable strain. Heirloom variety from Chet Stevenson of Tonasket, Washington, found growing wild in an abandoned garden along the roadside. A good garlic for eating raw, because the flavor is not too strong. Softneck, 12-16 cloves per bulb.
My earliest, highest yielding, biggest, and ugliest garlic! I'm very impressed with this variety and will certainly grow it again and again. Having such a good performing garlic as my first one to harvest was very encouraging for me. It yielded the hugest bulbs besides the Elephant garlic. The plants were nice and vigorous, and it was also the first garlic to be ready for harvest. I picked out these four bulbs to plant this fall and had plenty left over for eating. Because this variety is described as having a mild flavor, I have been using it in raw applications such as pesto sauce, and using Broadleaf Czech more for cooking, but really I'm just taking SSE's word for it and haven't done any sort of side-by-side taste comparison.
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 7/11/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 12
SSE Description: Dependable variety with large heads and easy-to-peel cloves, excellent flavor. One of the hardiest varieties we offer. Holds well in the field during harvest.
From the best garlic to one of the worst, Chrysalis Purple was the last garlic I harvested. I waited and waited and waited for this one to be ready and finally lost patience and dug it all up last week. As you can see, just about all the bulbs were really puny and never divided into cloves (which is why I waited so long to dig it up, I kept checking to see if they had divided yet and they never did). I've read that I can plant the undivided bulbs whole. I might try that just to see what happens. Maybe it will adapt. On the other hand, I have a suspicion that garlics that are advertised as being "hardy" are not the sorts I should be growing.
Planting Date: 10/10/2009
Harvest Date: 6/2/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 6
SSE Description: Not a true garlic, but actually is a type of leek. Huge cloves, and much milder flavor than regular garlic. Bulbs have potential to grow 3- 5" in diameter and up to one pound dry weight, under ideal conditions. Heads average 4-6 cloves.
Mine only had 3 cloves each. I kept three for replanting, but I also got a lot of bulbils which I also might try planting to see what happens. Those are little mini-bulbs that leeks form around the main stalk, about the size of a fingernail. I've heard they can take a long time to get big, but it may be worth trying to greatly increase my Elephant garlic, since they don't have a lot of cloves. I haven't eaten any of my Elephant garlic cloves yet, but I really enjoyed the scapes, which appeared long before the hardneck garlics got scapes. The scapes were also a lot fatter than the hardneck scapes.
Georgian Fire
Type: Hardneck, Porcelain
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/16/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 8
SSE Description: Obtained from the Gatersleben Seed Bank (#6822) in eastern Germany. Described by chefs as a truly “white hot” garlic. Raw taste is strong with a nice hotness that is not at all unpleasant. Great for salsa and salads. Hardneck, 4-6 cloves per bulb.
This one did OK for a hardneck, though not as well as Bogatyr. The bulbs were a little on the small size, but not too bad. Don't know about the "white hot" taste yet. This one is certainly worth giving another chance.
German Extra Hardy
Type: Hardneck, Porcelain
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/16/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 8
SSE Description: Vigorous grower with long roots that enable it to overwinter without heaving out of the ground. Outside skin is ivory-white, but the clove skin is dark red. Strong raw flavor, high sugar content, one of the very best for roasting.
Another garlic that brags about being cold hardy. However, this one didn't do too badly. I keep getting it mixed up with Georgian Fire. Again, haven't noticed any dark red color like I was supposed to have gotten, just white. That's really disappointing, because those colored garlics look so pretty. Still, this is another one worth giving a second chance.
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/31/2009
Harvest Date: 6/7/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 3
SSE Description: Originally collected by SSE member John Swenson in 1989 from the Pskem River Valley in Uzbekistan. Beautiful purple striped cloves, full flavor. Hardneck, 4–5 large cloves per bulb.
These three bulbs pictured are the only three I got, and only one was a decent size. This is mainly because one of the bulbs I received from SSE was rotten, so I was left with only 3 good cloves to plant. At least I did get one good sized bulb, so it's probably worth replanting this variety and giving it another chance.
Persian Star
Type: Hardneck, Purple Stripe
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 6/26/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 15
SSE Description: This variety was collected in Samarkand, Uzbekistan by long-time SSE member John Swenson. Pleasant flavor with a mild spicy zing. Good all-purpose variety that produces reliable yields year-after-year. Hardneck, 8-12 cloves per bulb.
This was the most beautiful garlic I received from SSE. Long, skinny cloves, arranged in one layer around the inner stem, with bold purple stripes. Not a purple blush or marbling like some garlics, but distinct stripes like someone drew them on with a crayon. I was afraid I wouldn't get such beautiful bulbs out of my own garden. All I can say is at least they didn't do as badly as Chrysalis Purple. You can see I just got a bunch of undivided round bulbs. I'll probably try again just because I really wish I could grow such a cool looking variety, but maybe purple stripe hardnecks are just not a good type of garlic for Texas.
Tochliavri
Type: Softneck, Artichoke
Planting Date: 10/17/2009
Harvest Date: 5/29/2010
Bulbs Harvested: 11
SSE Description: From the village in the Republic of Georgia where Chester Aaron’s father was born. Original stock obtained from Dr. Peter Hanelt at Gatersleben in eastern Germany. The standard by which all other garlic flavor should be judged.
This was my poorest performing softneck, but that means it still did better than any hardnecks. This was the other one where one of the bulbs was rotten, so that left me with only 11 cloves to plant. It's probably the best-looking garlic I managed to harvest. As you can see the bulbs were a nice size, smooth, and blemish free. This may possibly be the same variety as Red Toch. I don't see "Tochliavri" listed in a lot of catalogs but I do see Red Toch. I think I like calling it Tochliavri better since, again, mine aren't red. Will plant this one again, since even with only one good bulb to plant, I got a decent enough yield to leave me several bulbs to eat myself.
To Recap:
Growing Again for Sure: Bogatyr, Broadleaf Czech, Chet's Italian Red, Elephant, Georgian Fire, German Extra Hardy, and Tochliavri
Needs Improvement: Chrysalis Purple, Pskem River, Persian Star
I'm very glad that at least some of my varieties performed really well. Garlic of some kind or another will have a place in my garden from now on.
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