jellybean stonerfish <stonerfish@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>After
>seeing your post I put "garlic seeds" though google and now I don't know
>what to think.
The short version:
Garlic gave up *** long ago, and doesn't produce true seeds, so what
you're
doing in planting cloves is how garlic reproduces. Hardneck garlic puts
up
scapes with a bunch of "bulbils" on top, usually at some cost to the main
bulb, which is why we cut them off. You can let the scapes go and plant
the little bulbils, but it will take more than a season to get full-sized
garlic bulbs. Growers sometimes to this to avoid soil-borne diseases if
this is an issue with the original stock.
There has been a lot of research the past few years, and garlic can be
persuaded to produce true seeds... more of interest for producing hybrids
and other genetic tinkering; I don't know (or especially care to) the
details.
Shameless plug: google "garlic seed foundation." They're good folks.
Oh yeah: Asian cooks are often happy to get garlic scapes for cooking.
Cut them before they start to curl to keep as much energy as possible in
the main bulb, as well as to have nice tender stems to stir fry or make
pesto.
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at
home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
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