Gourmetgarlic.nz

10/01/2024

It's a sad day for us at Gourmet Garlic. We have enjoyed growing lovely garlic crops for the past few years. Over that time we have managed to collect and size up a broad variety of garlic types without disease in our small backyard patch. We have been careful to quarantine new stock for a few years, and also to implement good growing practices such as annual crop rotation.

This year started off well too with a nearly perfect shoot strike rate, good strong spring leaf growth and disease free early stock harvested before Christmas. However in the last few days of harvesting the last of our crop we have discovered in our soils to have the very early stages of the dreaded white rot in just a few of our late maturing bulbs. We were shocked then saddened by this find.

This fungus persists (20+ years) in soils waiting for a garlic host. Then from the early stages it develops in the soils over a few years to prevent spouting or to kill off garlic on mass. There is no easy organic solution to fight this fungus.

As a result we have made the decision not to sell any garlic this year knowing we could potentially affect the soils of other gardens around the country, irrespective of the limited amount we found in our stock.

From our base here in Kingston, we will no longer be growing or selling garlic stock. We apologize in advance to those that are looking forward to buying garlic bulbs from us, but I am sure you can understand the threat of this disease to your soils. Fortunately there are plenty great garlic growers and suppliers around NZ which have healthy stock to buy shortly.

We have loved collecting different groups of garlic, growing it and operating a unique NZ niche of all global garlic groups in our sampler packs, as well as selling a full range of bulbils too.

The comprehensive Garlic Growing Guide website will be kept live and up to date. For more on white rot and what to look for see our page on the guide at https://www.gourmetgarlic.nz/common-issues

We wish the kiwi garlic growers all the best with purchasing and planting their cloves and to have healthy, happy bulbs to enjoy over next summer. Happy garlic growing!

Gary & Kim Patterson
Gourmet Garlic

Common Garlic Diseases, Irregular Growth and Pests

02/01/2024

Summer is the time to harvest and cure your garlic. For drying, keep the bulbs out of the sun, have plenty of airflow and dry warm air is best. We hang the bulb up, and separated to keep the moisture away from the bulb to reduce black mould but there are plenty of other techniques which work. We like to keep the leaves on for the bulb to take the last of the nutrients and the roots on to reduce infection while drying. For more on curing garlic visit our drying page at https://www.gourmetgarlic.nz/drying

22/12/2023

Depending on the type of garlic you have and the climate of your home garden, you have probably already harvested or about to harvest your garlic. How do you know when it's ready?

Well if you know you have softneck garlic then wait until you have six fully green leaves left, for hardneck four. Then carefully dig a little next to the bulb to see if it has developed, but not over done as per the picture. For more detail check out our harvesting page at https://www.gourmetgarlic.nz/harvesting

Have a merry Christmas from the jolly team at Gourmet Garlic

19/12/2023

Here is a post I did on the garlic guru page a few days ago which might interest those who are considering buying some of our garlic bulbils this year.

So those who are interested in growing bulbils, this year we managed to grow all 10 garlic group bulbils to compare them all. I don't know of anyone who as done this in NZ, so we were intrigued to see how they would all turn out. We planted six of each type.

We have just pulled and compared them today. The three images show their development of what was planted, their leaf growth and their resulting bulbs or rounds.

The largest bulbils, as you would expect, grew the largest bulbs. Artichokes formed the largest plants and had small bulbs with cloves as did Asiatic and rocambole. The rest were medium to small rounds.

Bulbils are a good way to rid soil borne pathogens, to get fresh vigour of poorly performing garlic stock and to grow lots of garlic cheaply if you are patient.

We should have most bulbil types this year (no one else sells them in NZ) in autumn when our online shop opens. Please share with other garlic growers. We are just beginning to harvest our garlic over the next month so once cured we should be ready to sell - no pre-orders sorry but being a follower of our page you will be one of the first to know. To be super sure of being notified join our website mailing list. Happy summer and harvesting!

05/12/2023

Harvest started today! Turbans, our earliest type, were brought in before the showers tomorrow. They are known for their simple earthy garlic taste and are often used raw in salads. For more on this type of garlic visit our page at https://www.gourmetgarlic.nz/turban

04/12/2023

The garlic hanging racks are ready to cure our garlic for you. The first garlic type is only a few days away from being harvested. Unsure of when to harvest? Then use our harvesting page on our Garlic Growing Guide - the best out there for NZ's growing conditions. Feel free to share it with others https://www.gourmetgarlic.nz/harvesting

29/11/2023

We are just about to harvest our earliest garlic group being turbans. Some up north have already harvested theirs in the warmer climate. This time of the year the hardneck scapes are starting to appear which generally should be picked to increase bulb size. Here is a new diagram on our website of where to pick scapes - we do them when they have only just formed. More at https://www.gourmetgarlic.nz/garlic-scapes

03/11/2023

Time use organic spray to reduce rust spots that are just starting

14/08/2023

Our different garlic types are all at different stages of growth. We love visiting them each morning so see their progress between days

26/07/2023

A light sprinkle of snow this morning. It feels alot more like winter now

08/07/2023

A little light weeding today of our early turban and asiatic garlic groups. The other eight types are only just beginning to pop up out of the soil

31/05/2023

Some breaking news on the latest garlic research

Scientists used three varieties of garlic grown in a tiny Australian farming town to stave off the strains.