Thank you very much, Rodney. Long day onions. Ahha. So those red things are probably meant for another climate. I just went to harvest some of the scallion part. No bulb, just a thickened stem and roots. They are fatter than regular green onions, but I don't think as good a flavor. I do have a pack of real scallion seeds, so I'll see how the package directions read. We use a lot of green onion here and sometimes just a small grocery store bunch is pricey.

I only learned this year that the garlic I've been using is from (probably) China.

I'll try growing some of my own. Thanks for your time and expertise, Rodney.

I'm in NH and grow hard neck garlic but I don't remember what kind. You should be able to find some sold locally. I've seen it at farmers markets. In late June it will produce garlic scapes which you need to cut (it's the flower bud) and can use like garlic. I harvest my garlic sometime in July. I haven't planted my next crop yet. Mulch heavily with straw to keep down weeds in the spring. Don't try to grow garlic using bulbs from the grocery store. I haven't been in the local farm and feed store lately but they might also have garlic for fall planting.

Thanks, defrost. The four heads of garlic I bought in Late August, were from a woman who sells organic garlic and eggs at a local farmer's market. I will try to snap a photo later. I hung it in a cold cellar. It is smaller than the large grocery store while garlic.

I think she said to plant each clove about 1 to 1.5 inches deep and cover. IIRC I cover it and I forgot the spacing. Our garden soil is moist now, so I will not water it.

Some varieties are small. We love garlic and the variety I ended up with is large so sometimes I use fewer cloves than a recipe calls for. I haven't planted mine yet. It doesn't take long to build up a good harvest. Very worthwhile to grow. If you only have 4 heads and you see some more for sale, I would get more. I've tasted different kinds at a local garlic farm and really can't tell the difference.

Thanks, dfrost. We eat a lot of garlic. I often use a bit more than called for. For example, in some Chinese and Southeast Asian recipes (perhaps the seasonings have been cut back for Western palates), I probably increase by half or more the garlic and ginger. However, with many such recipes, I have eyeballed the ingredients. I've been cooking a lot of that sort of cuisine for decades now, and look at most recipes for inspiration. I am happy to see that a lot more people are understanding the underlying processes that help make a better dish.

I haven't made pasta with broccoli and garlic for a long while, maybe soon. I love cream of garlic soup if I have a cold. When I make tabouleh, I use the recipe in the Moosewood cookbook, but add more garlic, more parsley, lemon zest, a bit of cayenne or Tabasco.

What do you like to make?

"So those red things are probably meant for another climate."

Maybe, maybe not. If I am understanding right then you have planted a full sized bulb onion that you bought. Doing so means you have put it into its second full season of growing. As I said in my previous comment they will flower in their second growing season. If you want to grow bulb onions you either have to start from seed, start from fingertip sized onion sets, or start from transplants and they need planted in early spring. It is the increasing daylength in the beginning of summer that triggers onions to bulb.

Back to garlic. If you want to know if the garlic is imported then check the roots. Imported garlic has its roots removed and you'll see a concave indentation on the bottom of the bulb where the roots should be.

And FWIW, I plant my garlic 6 inches apart in all directions. I've tried a wider spacing but there was no noticeable increase in bulb size. However, there was a decrease in overall production since I couldn't fit as many plants into the same amount of area.

Rodney

I finally pulled my red onions today. I can't remember whether I bought seedlings or what they call "sets". I only planted about a dozen or so in a narrow bed between arugula and celeriac and I plant in the spring.

Petalique, I like to do stir fries, too but I got easy on the ginger. It seems just about everything I cook from soups to casseroles requires garlic. LOL I have two Moosewood cook books that I like for soup recipes - Daily Specials and Low-Fat something or other. I make the mock chicken soup but use chicken. We're not vegetarian but I like the way recipes are seasoned in those cookbooks. This year I grew a lot of hot peppers so some of the hot pepper sauce recipes called for garlic. I also do a little fermenting.

yes you can still plant. I planted mine zone 6a in a mild January warm spell. did fine. even if the bulbs are smaller its better than no garlic at all save buying dried up garlic in the grocery store whose origin is probably china

Yeah local produce stand says China on her stuff..... but WALLy world. 's said " USA produce." I buy the bags of it sometimes the small organic bag prob only 2. bulbs in it... I grew some last fall or so it did ir even though I used grocery store garlic and some garlic from a gardening sourced.

Just a saying. thanks all