It's not a hard and fast rule, but in general I am of the opinion that there is an inverse relationship between garlic flavor and keeping ability.

For my money, rocamboles have the best flavor, but they are the shortest storing varieties. Rocamboles generally keep for no more than 3-4 months. Of the rocamboles, I am partial to Carpathian, Killarney Red and Spanish Roja.

Purple Stripes keep somewhat longer, maybe 4-6 months. I am fond of Chesnok Red.

Porcelain varieties keep a little longer. I've dabbled with German Extra-Hardy and Northern White, but they seem to be to be notable more for the huge cloves they produce rather than for their flavor.

Creole, Artichoke and Silverskins keep the longest, 9 months to a year sometimes. But none of those seem to do very well with the harsh winters I get, so I don't grow any of those.

Hope that's helpful...

gardenguy
Thanks so much for that great information. I'm learning a lot from this site.

I am most impressed with the Silver Rose, it's a silver skin with a long storage life when cured well. Inchelium is another favorite. I'll have 1,125 Silver Rose in the ground this year and 700 Inchelium. I got a new one this year called Slovinian. A rocambole but still very good eating raw.

Everybody likes The Chesnok and Roja...both a great tasting garlic. seems to be on everybodys list partly because that's what they know and have heard about. Chesnok keeps better than Roja

In zone 6b I would think you could grow artichoke (softnecks) - Lorz Italian and Inchillium are great keepers and have great taste

I have been having problems with artichokes curing properly as the center core just does not want to dry out in our humid climate(80" rain/yr.)So am discontinuing growing them.Spanish Roja does great here,does not mold nearly as easily as other strains and keeps till spring.The secret is to leave the scapes intact and cut off day of harvest,just to make them easier to handle.I had 6,000 in the ground last year and about 40% were in excess of 2 1/2"dia..Now those bulbs that didn't make a scape or it was deformed(sub-normal)did get larger but at a price,that being they were not as solid(rock hard) and were spongier and had more internal mold at cleaning time and definitely do not store as long.I am going to compare the difference by same size to weight using a quantity of ten on my electronic market scale.My guess is that the bulbs grown with normal scapes will weigh more at the same dia. as the descaped ones.The real key to growing large bulbs is to 'feed heavily',most growers underfeed.

Yo Garlicman2,

send me a note at tweedman@gotvc.net I'd like to talk to you sometime. I have a few questions.

Garlicman2,

I have to weigh in on your advice about leaving garlic scapes on until harvest.

Your advice runs counter to everything I've ever read or experienced about growing garlic. The scape is basically the garlic's reproductive organ. The top growth of the scape contains a little pod, called the umbel, full of bulbils -- tiny garlic seeds.

Leaving the scape intact takes energy that would be directed into bulb growth and uses it to grow those bulbils. It just isn't logical that leaving the scape intact would result in a larger bulb.

The effect of scape removal does vary somewhat from one group to another, but in general, the results are pretty consistent: if you remove the scape the resulting bulbs will be somewhat larger and will mature a bit quicker. The one advantage of leaving the scapes intact is said to be somewhat better keeping garlic bulbs.

Large growers will sometimes opt not to de-scape their garlic, but this is mostly just out of consideration for the time required to de-scape thousands of plants. Of course, some large growers opt to de-scape their crop and sell those scapes at farmer's markets.

I'm curious -- what types of garlic do you grow?

@ gardenguyvt
I will answer your questions from the top down.
Reread R.Engeland,Growing Great Garlic, again.I been reading it 2or3 times a year and been reading it for many years.He writes about having severe mold problems in the bulbs after harvest and not keeping till xmas even until they started leaving the scapes on till just before harvest.I was having the same problem myself till I started leaving the scapes on,now they keep till spring and I have about 200 pounds of 2 1/2" to 3" bulbs for sale but of course they have been cleaned and ready for sale.Also have the same amount in planting grade;2"-2 1/2".
The descaped bulbs do get bigger,but do not keep as well which is an important feature if you want to enjoy your garlic for a longer period of time also the larger bulbs have cloves that have multiples that sprout with 2-3-4 plants and anything more than two are a real mess ie.no commercial value.
As far as selling scapes at the farmers mkt.is dependent on the supply and demand, and the supply usually exceeds the demand.The most important thing to remember about growing large bulbs is to feed heavily as garlic is the second heaviest user of nitrogen next to rhubarb.I mix blood meal,fish meal,cotton seed meal,dried pelleted chicken evenup and a half ratio of kelp as its about $1#,applying one pound per 10sq.ft.of bed I only put it on the bed and then till it in.In spring when the spears begin to show fertilize again with a water soluble product such as Alaska fish using a hose-end sprayer;heavily until you get nervous and then around Mothers Day(mid-May)or do as Engeland did,foliar spray every two weeks which can be difficult when you have a lot of rain.I do best with Spanish Roja as it is more resistant to rain/mold damage and grows the largest and more uniformly than the other stiffnecks.I am not supposed to list my commercial site as I understand it but you can contact me 1.360.482.4948 BILL

Bill, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I spoke to Bill on the phone for like 3 hours...it was a lot of fun. I can post the name of somebody else's site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bills garlic site

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/allium/msg0714122820890.html

This link has taste test results for several species. Might find it interesting in terms of taste. I pulled the scapes on all of mine, and the Brown Tempest spoiled first (almost all rotten as of last week). The others are all looking good as of last week.

Nice link, Mike! Thanks!

Also, good to know about the Brown Tempest. I'll be making detailed notes about my harvest and spoilage rates in 2009.

-----Jenna

I am SO not going to remove the scapes prematurely next year!

Thanks for the smack to the side o'the head, here.

Btw, my hardneck stores better than the softneck by several months.

Its nice to know you guys are going to do some experimenting with leaving scapes on.
BTW The 'kernels' will grow and produce bulbs,but they don't keep very long,also plant the entire scape next fall and enjoy a mess of garlic greens next spring.Do the same with small bulbs.You can cut or pull the whole thing.