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Garlic Giveaway from Peaceful Valley

October 10th, 2012

Last week I was thinking to myself that it was time to look through all my garlic and pull out the nicest bulbs for planting. Garlic is one of those crops that I’ve been growing since I first started gardening. It’s so easy to grow and brings such great reward.

Earlier this year, my interest was piqued when I read that softneck garlic stores longer/better than hardneck garlic. As much as I’ve read in my lifetime, I have never heard this tidbit of information before. Hardneck varieties of garlic are all that have been grown at Chiot’s Run, because it grows better in colder climates. Though, I have seen softneck garlic at the farmers market, so I know it can be grown successfully. Most of what I see is hardneck though.

Over the past few years, I’ve grown most of my own seed garlic as well. I do occasionally long to grow new varieties for flavor and to see if I can find ones that do particularly well in my climate/area. Your local farmers market can give you an idea of which varieties will do best, ask around, or just try a few that sound interesting.

With so many questions about planting garlic in the comments of this post, I wrote a Garlic Planting Guide over on the Your Day Blog.

When Peaceful Valley contacted me about doing a garlic giveaway I obliged, knowing one of you would love to win their garlic combo pack for your garden. I’ve talked about why I love Peaceful Valley before, so I’m happy to support a company I appreciate (they aren’t paying me to do this post, though I did get some softneck garlic to try).

What can you win?

A Garlic Combo Pack – Comprised of 1 head of Elephant (conventional), 3 heads of California Early White (organic softneck), 3 heads of Purple Italian (organic hardneck), 3 heads of Russian Red (organic hardneck), 3 sets of French Red Shallots (organic). Should yield approx. 50 plants, needs approx. 6-8 sq ft.

A Quart of Liquid Kelp – Cold-processed liquid kelp Enzymatically digested, concentrated liquid extract of California Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), harvested from kelp beds in the Pacific Ocean off the Northern coast of CA. Freshly harvested kelp is rapidly processed at low temperatures, using naturally occurring enzymes isolated from the kelp, to digest and liquify the chopped kelp into a dark liquid extract.

a 10 gallon smart pot – which you can use to grow your garlic in if you don’t have enough space in your garden.

1 Garlic Twist (clever kitchen gadget that minces the cloves when you twist it; easy to use and clean)
and a print of your garlic variety.

So why kelp? Peaceful Vally has a great video that recommend soaking your garlic bulbs overnight in kelp before planting. I used kelp before, but I have soaked them in a baking soda and fish emulsion mix. You can bet I’ll be doing experiments by soaking a few and not soaking a few to see how they grow (similar to my remove or leave the scape experiment). If you’d like to read my post on planting garlic including a few of the varieties I grow, head on over to this post.

All you have to do to enter to win is to comment on this post. Contest will end at midnight PT on Wednesday, October 17. contest closed…check back for more great giveaways in the future.

Do you grow garlic in the garden? If so, what’s your favorite variety?

If you’d like more chances to win, there are 7 other blogs doing this same giveaway, with different varieties of garlic.
Peaceful Valley’s Organic Gardening Blog for ‘Bogatyr’
Gardenerd for ‘California Early White’
A Suburban Farmer for ‘Purple Gazer’
North Coast Gardening for some ‘Russian Red’
Western Gardeners for ‘Purple Italian’
Living Homegrown for ‘German Red’
Dirt Du Jour divas are giving away French red shallots

391 Comments to “Garlic Giveaway from Peaceful Valley”
  1. Randall Simmons on October 17, 2012 at 1:33 am

    I have now heard of Chiot’s Run, from Tricia. I enjoy new perspectives in all phases of organic gardening. I grow Spanish Roja and Loicano, but always looking for something better for brushetta, thanks, Randy

    Reply to Randall Simmons's comment

  2. Shaz on October 17, 2012 at 2:11 am

    I haven’t yet had the chance to grow garlic, but I would definitely pick hardneck varieties. They just taste so much better! My favorite so far is Music, but I’d also love to grow Persian Star, for its beauty. I haven’t tried the Italian or Russian, but I’d definitely be excited to see how they taste!!

    Reply to Shaz's comment

  3. Smmrsvr on October 17, 2012 at 4:57 am

    This will be my first season growing garlic. I got one softneck from PV and would love to try other as well. Thank you for the contest!

    Reply to Smmrsvr's comment

  4. Candace Carrie' on October 17, 2012 at 7:37 am

    I planted my first experience with garlic last season. It was a hardneck type, that I find now might not have been best for the South. This contest would be a great second show to find out what really works best for me. Thanks for the opportunity.

    Reply to Candace Carrie’'s comment

  5. Linda on October 17, 2012 at 8:10 am

    At my feeble attempt to grow garlic this year, I bought some organic garden from the natural food store here in Santa Cruz and it did all right but nothing to write home about. Thank you for the tips and I look forward to future success!

    Reply to Linda's comment

  6. Claire Cornish on October 17, 2012 at 8:55 am

    I work with kids – and elephant garlic is a great hit!

    Reply to Claire Cornish's comment

  7. Beth on October 17, 2012 at 9:08 am

    I planted garlic cloves once, but the birds found them irresistible, and the next day they were gone! But I use lots of garlic in my cooking and would love to try my hand once more at growing garlic.

    Reply to Beth's comment

  8. Sidge Chapman on October 17, 2012 at 10:12 am

    I have an herb, pepper and tomato garden at the moment. I’d love to try growing garlic.

    Reply to Sidge Chapman's comment

  9. Maxus on October 17, 2012 at 10:13 am

    This is exactly what I need to plant some garlics. I have been trying for such a long time now! Garlic…….

    Reply to Maxus's comment

  10. Kathy on October 17, 2012 at 10:17 am

    I like growing the hardneck variety. My second year of growing garlic produced lots of scapes and I’m learning as I go along. Have not tried the softneck varieties. Thank you for the opportunity to learn more about growing garlic.

    Reply to Kathy's comment

  11. clyde wellons on October 17, 2012 at 10:19 am

    while i may be gar-lacking in experience, I do love garlic!

    Reply to clyde wellons's comment

  12. Elizabeth Victory on October 17, 2012 at 10:32 am

    I grew garlic for the first time last year, so, I don’t have a favorite variety yet! I am super excited to be able to try out more types next year.

    Reply to Elizabeth Victory's comment

  13. Hazel on October 17, 2012 at 10:47 am

    I tried to grow garlic the first year I moved here but it didn’t do very well. I’ve mostly concluded that the spot I chose was too rocky and not nearly well drained enough. I think the garlic rotted before it really got the chance to grow. Since I’ve been working the soil for a few years, I think I may have a few better garden spots now and would like to try growing it again. ‘Music’ seems to be a popular variety in this area.

    Reply to Hazel's comment

  14. medolark on October 17, 2012 at 11:05 am

    I don’t have a fave variety yet. I planted my first garlic (a purple skinned org variey I bought at the local Farmer’s market) last yr to keep the deer away from my daffodils when they emerged then I found out deer don’t eat daffodils! LOL The garlic was successful so I bought more varieties to try planting this year. My studies have stated that stiff necks do better in the northern climates but I’m planting both kinds this year to see what does best for me. Ü

    Reply to medolark's comment

  15. Nicky @dirtandmartinis on October 17, 2012 at 11:07 am

    There’s nothing like cooking with homegrown garlic! I would definetly love to add more to my garden this year, for myself and to share with others. TY!

    Reply to Nicky @dirtandmartinis's comment

  16. Dawn on October 17, 2012 at 11:15 am

    I just found your site today and spent way more time reading that I probably should have :) Need to get back outside – lots more garden cleanup to do! I am planting garlic this year for the first time – planted some locally grown Chesnok and some unknown Italian heirloom yesterday. I would love trying some more varieties.

    Reply to Dawn's comment

  17. Jacqueline on October 17, 2012 at 11:37 am

    Am excited to start growing garlic this coming year.

    Reply to Jacqueline's comment

  18. Jennie on October 17, 2012 at 11:51 am

    This prize pack sounds amazing! This year year was the first year I grew garlic (planted last fall), and it was the easiest thing ever. I’d love to try a bunch of new varieties!

    Reply to Jennie's comment

  19. Anna Maloy on October 17, 2012 at 12:53 pm

    What an amazing giveaway! I’ve been wanting to try to grow garlic and this would be perfect!

    Reply to Anna Maloy's comment

  20. Marie-Elise on October 17, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    Great blog, discovered it with this contest but looking forward to reading a lot more of it!

    Reply to Marie-Elise's comment

  21. Susan Juetten on October 17, 2012 at 2:55 pm

    Garlic grows easily here in n. Nevada, and has always been in my garden, would like to try new varieties.

    I like your website and knowing about you, but could not see where you are located!

    Reply to Susan Juetten's comment

    • Susy on October 17, 2012 at 3:44 pm

      We actually just moved from NE Ohio to Midcoast Maine.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  22. Louise on October 17, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    Scapes! The nicest spring surprise every spring.

    Reply to Louise's comment

  23. MiSchelle on October 17, 2012 at 5:44 pm

    I grow Rocambole. It was given to me by a gardening friend and I, too save cloves from my harvest for fall planting.

    Reply to MiSchelle's comment

  24. The Subversive Hippie on October 17, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    I’ve never grown garlic before, but my father has. I’d love to add growing garlic organically to my repertoire.

    Reply to The Subversive Hippie's comment

  25. Beth K on October 17, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    Hmmm… I think I must have replied to the wrong blog post the other day. Silly me. I may as well give it a shot – it would be great to have another variety of garlic to add to the garden. :-)

    Reply to Beth K's comment

  26. Gisele on October 17, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    This is my first year with enough garden space to grow garlic and so I don’t have any of my own seed garlic saved. This kit would really hit the spot here this year and give us a really good start. Thank you for the generous giveaway.

    Reply to Gisele's comment

  27. emily on October 17, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    i’ve grown garlic once, and it was amazing (and lasted me an entire year). so easy and so worth it!

    Reply to emily's comment

  28. Carla Stachiw on October 17, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    I’ve won one of your giveaways before…why not try again!? Haha! Though I do love garlic, I have never planted it. Hope to try someday.

    Reply to Carla Stachiw's comment

  29. beth on October 17, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    We planted four different varieties this past year and Inchelium Red did the best in our garden by far. Of course, we loved the flavor of everything we planted, and would like to try growing some more again this year. It definitely beat the grocery store garlic.

    Reply to beth's comment

  30. Emily on October 17, 2012 at 11:20 pm

    I am planning to start growing alliums in earnest so this would be perfect!

    Reply to Emily's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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