Posted: 5/14/2011 4:11:47 PM EDT
| Can't find the garlic thread. At what point can you cut the scapes for the best eating? I've got some nice ones this year but don't know if it is time to harvest them yet. |
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What's a "scape"? Scapes are the central stem of the garlic plant that forms the seed head. Both stalk and seed head are edible....considered delicacies in Asian cultures, or so I'm told. We once had an Asian lady who didn't speak English well show up at the door asking what we were planning to do with our scapes and could she buy some from us? 
See the curli-cue thing? That's the scape. 
Scape pesto, not for the faint of heart. 
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Thanks, I thought that was the case but wanted to make sure. The pesto looks great..........can you give the recipe or is it a Mrs. Feral secret? It's not hard to make. Basically you just chop everything up in a food processor. Drizzle in some EVOO while chopping and add some lemon juice and salt to taste. A variation is to saute the scapes first before chopping them––that mellows the flavor out considerably. I find this "pesto" a little coarse in flavor. It works OK as a garnish, but it isn't like basil pesto where you can just put it over pasta by itself. |
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Do you plant garlic from seed? How many days to maturity? It's planted from the cloves. Around here it's planted in the fall then overwinters and is harvested in early to mid July. Because it overwinters I can't really give you a "Days to maturity". In most of the allium family, bulbing happens when the hours of daylight reach a certain length. The plant will stop growing at that point. You'll generally end up with small bulbs that may not have even split into cloves because the plant just didn't have enough time to grow before the days lengthened. That's why spring planting (in the north) gives poorer results than fall planting where the clove has time to set roots and get a head start. |
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So did I waste my time with planting garlic back in late march when I did my onions and taters? Mine are only about 10 inches high right now. Only time will tell. You'll probably have smaller bulbs than if you'd have planted them in late fall though. ETA, I was out picking asparagus and checked the garlic. The hard necks are 20" already, so that should give you some idea of the difference between fall planting and your spring planting results. (The soft necks are a few inches shorter). |