Garlic Scape Harvest Time

Garlic Scapes 2014  - photo by Rick Jackofsky

For me, the first day of summer is the day I start snapping the scapes off my ophio garlic plants. So, today is, (unofficially), the first day of summer! Garlic scapes are a delicious bonus you get from hard neck garlic plants. Scapes taste, (and can be cooked like), garlic flavored string beans, we like to roast them. They store really well too, we've sometimes kept them in the vegetable crisper of our fridge for months. Here on Long Island the scapes, of garlic planted in November, are usually ready to eat in mid June. You can start snapping them off when they begin to curl around. You should be able to snap them off cleanly with your fingers. Don't let them go to long or they will get too woody. I'll be digging up, and starting to cure, my 120 garlic bulbs in about a month; right before our two big summer music festivals, The Great South Bay Music Festival and Bethlehem Musikfest.

Planting and Picking - Garlic and Guitars

Last weekend we had a great time performing for the folks at the Hampton Bays Public Library. One of the highlights was when we were joined onstage by our, inimitable, old friend Artie Scholtz who accompanied us on his rhythm bones for a rousing version of This Train is Bound for Glory. This weekend The Homegrown String Band, The Family That Plays Together,  will be doing two shows. On Saturday, November 9, 2013 we will be performing at the Elwood Public Library and then on Sunday the 10th we'll be at the Franklin Square Public Library. Both shows are free and start at 2:00 pm.

Photo by Rick Jackofsky

The weather has been dry, we're starting to get cool nights, and I knew I would be busy for the rest of the week, so I decided to plant my garlic today. I followed the old axiom, plant the best and eat the rest, so I picked out 120 of the biggest cloves from this year's garlic crop. Last year I planted 100 cloves and harvested about eight pounds of garlic. Georgianne says "that's not enough," it's never enough, but by June we'll have a few pounds of delicious garlic scapes and by early July the 120 plants should give us about ten pounds of organic ophio hard neck garlic.

Photo by Rick Jackofsky

A couple weeks ago I was discussing various types of garlic and planting strategies with a friend when he mentioned how much he and his wife enjoy garlic but hate peeling it. I told him about a cool little tool we had discovered about 15 years ago called the Canterbury Crack and Peel Mushroom. It makes peeling garlic a snap. The magic mushroom had been out of production for a number of years, but has recently been brought back by the Vermont Bowl Company. It's a low tech wonder!