Tags:

Growing Practices: No Pesticides No Herbicides No Fungicides No Synthetic Fertilizers

Latin Name: Allium Sativum

Days to Maturity: 300

Description:

Thought to be among one of the oldest of all garlic. These large bulbs with purple striped wrappers and contains 8 to 10 large easy peel cloves. Depending on location, it can harvest in mid-summer and stores well into winter. Excellent for cooking, holding its flavor and offering a distinctive, lingering taste. Chesnok Red is the sweetest roasting garlic; it doesn't just taste garlicky, it tastes sweet. Perfect in Garlic Ice Cream!

Story of this Seed:

A standard Purple Stripe garlic originally from the Republic of Georgia. One of the country's most popular of garlic, this garlic tends to be on the sweeter side of all garlic. We believe if you grow more than one variety, Chesnok Red needs to be included!

Growing Tips:

Once you've received your garlic seed, if you cannot plant immediately, store in a cool dark area prior to planting. Preferred temperature should be under 60 degrees and above 45. Most basements or cellars work perfectly. If you don't have access to either, a cooler in your garage, crawl space or shed will work as well.
If you're ready to get planting, start by breaking, cracking, or separating your garlic bulbs into cloves. There can be anywhere from 4 to 12 cloves per bulb depending on the cultivar. Peel the outer layers of skin back as best you can from each bulb and break it apart using your hands or a dull tool. You don't want to damage the clove as it can lead to potential disease or contamination. This can be a time consuming process. It can take as long as an hour to break apart 10lbs of garlic.
Once your cloves are broken, they can be planted immediately. Some farms like to soak their cloves overnight in a variety of manners. At OnPoint Organics, we've chosen not to soak ours. Place them in a labeled bucket, especially if you plan to plant more than one variety of garlic.
Once you have your garden planned out with number of beds and rows, be sure to identify your rows to show each specific variety. You will want to plant each clove 6-8" apart with the pointed end of each clove facing upward at a depth of 2-4". Once each row is planted, you can use a metal rake or your hands to cover the holes in each row with dirt. This is a good time to fertilize also if you decide to do so. Once you determine which mulch you will be using, this will be your final step in the planting process. If using straw, be sure to put a 2-6" of chopped straw over each row.