One of my favorite, easiest, and most satisfying crops to grow is garlic. You can plant garlic in fall when most of the rest of your garden jobs are limited to cleaning and prepping. Even through the winter you can see the fruits of your labor; I have seen green garlic shoots popping out of the dirt even in December and January. Not to mention that I just love garlic! If I find a new recipe that I want to try that uses garlic I usually double it, at least. So I am thrilled to grow my own organically.
Before we plant garlic, there are some things to consider, firstly your growing zone. I am zone 7a, so I have more options than in many other growing zones. The two types of garlic are hardneck and softneck garlic, both being planted in the fall. Depending on the variety some sources say you can plant softneck garlic from zones 3 to 9, but they need a much shorter vernalization, the process by which plants use the winter to know when to grow, than hardneck garlic, so proceed with caution when planting soft neck garlic in northern zones. Hardneck garlic, again depending on the variety, can be planted in zones 3 through 8. Softneck garlic is the most common type found in supermarkets, it has a soft center and thus the greens can be braided for storage. It stores much better and longer than the hardneck varieties. Hardneck varieties have a woody or hard center and the cloves grow in a circle around this core rather than the softneck that grows with many cloves squeezed where there is room. Softneck usually have more cloves but hardneck can grow bigger cloves. Hardneck varieties also develop a scape that grows from the center core. Softneck varieties usually have no scape. The scape is the garlic's attempt at a flower and looks like a long curling stem with a bud that hasn’t flowered yet. You cut the scape off before it flowers so your garlic plants send all their energy to the bulb to grow big cloves rather than send the energy to produce a flower. But don’t worry these scapes are not waste destined for the compost bin, they are edible too. They have the texture and taste of a garlicky green bean. I have only grown the hardneck variety, because I find the scape a delicious bonus, but I am going to try a soft neck variety as well this fall.
Planting:
In my zone, it is recommended to plant garlic by mid October. My first year planting garlic my beds were being built in October so I didn’t get them planted until November. We had a mild winter and they were perfect! My second year planting I planted in October and got a mixed result, some heads of garlic were great and others had burst through their papery outer coating. You don’t want to consume garlic where the cloves have been exposed to dirt like that because they may contain bacteria. You can save these and try to replant them but I would recommend keeping them in another bed from any new or undamaged cloves, or any alliums, you plant just in case of disease or pests that could be spread to the other plants.
This year I conducted an experiment to see if planting in October or November was better for my garden. In October I planted the right side of one of my garden beds with garlic cloves. Yes, it is really this easy, just pull the cloves away from the head of garlic and stick them in the dirt. They don’t need to be planted too deep but should be fully covered with a layer of dirt. This year I added a layer of leaf mulch on top but it wasn't thickly coated. Then, in November I planted the left side of the bed. I had extra garlic cloves left so I waited until December and planted the perennial vegetable garden and a wine barrel flower pot with more cloves. It was a mild winter until late January but all the cloves started to grow their green tops. Nothing to do now but sit and wait till spring or early summer.
Growing:
Very little care is required for garlic after you plant. During the winter you just sit back and relax. Usually there are Spring rains so you don’t even have to water. This spring was very dry so I found myself watering more than usual. As Spring progresses just keep your eye on the garlic to see if the scape is forming, if you planted the hardneck variety of course. Once you see the scape cut them off and enjoy your bonus harvest. You can make them into pesto, or cut them up and mix into a saute or stir fry. My favorite way to eat them: a little olive oil or nonstick cooking spray, some salt and pepper, and toss them on a veggie pan on the grill, see the image below. After you have removed the scape, wait until you see several of the lower leaves have browned. This is a very arbitrary method, many sources say somewhere between 3 or 5 lower leaves should be browned before harvesting. I usually wait till just before the 4th of July to harvest.
Harvesting & Curing:
Many sources suggest you shouldn’t pull the garlic up by the roots and instead use a garden fork, I usually just pull them up. If you harvest all of them at once it doesn’t really matter. If you are harvesting one or two at a time the garden fork may be the way to go so you don’t disrupt the roots of other nearby plants. Once you harvest the garlic you are going to be tempted to wash off the dirt, I always am and sometime do before I remember I have learned a better way. Just sit the heads of garlic upside down and let the dirt dry and fall off. You can dust them with a brush too after they have sat for a day or so. Make sure to keep them somewhere dry and out of the sun. I usually try to store them in the garage. I cut the greens off and hang them upside down on some old milk crates, see the image below. It is not necessary to cut the greens off but I do it so I can store them on the milk crates without the greens getting in the way. Every year I say I am going to build a drying rack for my garlic and every year other garden tasks come up that are more pressing. There are many plans online for how to build a drying rack, or you can improvise like I did. I even saw someone online use a garden bench, the kind with wooden slats, as a drying rack. Depending on the humidity and heat it can take up to 2 weeks to cure.
The Results of my Experiment:
After harvesting my garlic you may wonder, which grew better? October, November, or December? Surprise! There was no difference in the growth. Each crop grew about the same, some garlic heads were bigger than others and some were sort of disappointing but that was true regardless of whether they were planted in October, November, or December. Shrug, C’est la Vie!
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