The last week and a half here at GBP we’ve been harvesting garlic scapes like crazy. They’ve been quite popular this year at market. Whether you like them in your mashed potatoes or in a pesto be sure to get some for yourself soon from Kalamazoo farm because they won’t stay tender much longer out in the field.
We like to leave a few scapes on our garlic plants because eventually the scape straightens out and produces a topset on the garlic plant. Each scape makes a number of very small garlic “bulbils” which can be harvested, planted and after two years will produce a full head of garlic.
Many crops are off to a great start. Right now we’ve got zucchini, radishes, peas, spring onions all ready to harvest. Our green, yellow and “Dragon’s Tongue” beans are not far behind.
Costata Romanesco
In other Garlic Brothers news we decided to expand our field some this year. The land we opened up has not been farmed on for a very long time from what we know, so we are going to have a lot of roots and weeds to contend with. We laid our rows with black plastic to help keep the weeds down and planted it with hot peppers, sweet peppers, melons, purple tomatillos, cucumbers and squash. We will have to see what competes best!
Check back soon for more updates and pictures. The pace of this season has been awkward at times, but I think we’ve made a few improvements this year that are going to allow us to use our acre more efficiently and bring more vegetables to market etc.
I leave you with my favorite picture so far from this season.
Toady and the Squash
