Originally Posted By JCoop:
Yes, the Spanish Roja plant itself is substantially larger than the Magic plant. It will be interesting to see if there is a lot of difference in bulb size. One would think there would be but we'll see.

I picked a few scapes last weekend and had them with shrimp sauteed in butter over farfalle. With plenty of fresh grated Pecorino.  It did not suck.

Originally Posted By Eagle_19er:


Very cool. I’ve been trying to get to garlic for a couple years but mountain weather got me one year and a messed up knee another. I’m starting a humble garden in boxes for next year but at least I’m starting. I have 18? (Maybe more) varieties planted in a 4x16’ bed. Not a ton of anything. I’m mostly just trying to salvage what I brought with me when I relocated. I’m building another 4x8 bed this week for the Siberian I just ordered. The extra space in that bed will go to Georgian Fire & Metechi bulbils that are, I think, 2 year grow outs from back in MN. (Also frozen so no guarantees).

In other news I’m planning a sizable “orchard” for my property as well. The “orchard” is spread out over several acres because no single site has the space I need without clearing a couple hundred fir & larch trees, and I ain’t doin’ that. I planted 9 apple trees a few years ago and have a couple pears, plums, a sour cherry tree  and 3 maples (for syrup) so far. I’m adding at least 1 more pear, 2 more plums, 1 more sour cherry, at least 6 sweet cherries, apricots, peaches, english walnuts, a special cold adapted almond, heartnuts and hazelnuts next spring. My neighbor, a great friend, lent me his mini excavator just this weekend to dig out (3) 18”x12”x25’ trenches so I can replace the poor mountain soil with organic matter and better dirt for growing raspberries, which are also going in next spring. I’ll be trying an in ground version of hugelkultur for the raspberries. The rest of that area will have various berries including blackberry, blueberry, choke cherry and black currant grown in above ground hugelkultur mounds.

I’m technically in USDA Zone 5a here but those numbers aren’t strict in the mountains. We’ve seen -29.8F a couple times so I need zone 4 plants in most cases. Those temps don’t last for long at least.  The nicest thing I’ve got going is that the gradual slope that my main garden will eventually be on is south facing and sloped towards the sun. It loses snow first every year as the sun heats the ground. I’ve been tracking the sun for a couple years to see where the ideal areas are in this portion of my property for main garden and raised bed planning. —I’ll eventually have 50x80 in ground garden, about (25) 4x8 raised beds, a 12x24 heated greenhouse and at least 12 fruit trees in this ~.75 acre space.