The Stinking Rose: Growing Garlic
By Jill West
Garlic has a long reputation in mythology, folk medicine, and of course - cuisine. Called the "Stinking Rose" or scorodon, by the Ancient Greeks, you can find stories and ancient lore about garlic in almost every culture. It is one of the few foods that play a role in just about all the world’s cuisine. This could be because it’s incredibly easy to grow, or because of its pungent, spicy flavor that transforms any dish. Even modern medicine has recently confirmed the health benefits of including garlic in your diet. Those health benefits include both antibiotic and anti-inflammatory effects.
Typically when you go to a standard grocery store you find one type of garlic. Two if you are lucky. There are actually over 600 varieties of garlic, which can be separated into two basic types – soft-neck and hard-neck. Soft-neck garlic is what we think of when we picture garlic. These are the large bulbs covered in papery white skin that are readily available in grocery stores. The name comes from the layer that covers the entire bulb and continues up the neck to make soft stalks that can be braided when harvested. Soft-neck garlic is mild flavored and extremely versatile in cooking.
Hard-neck garlic is just the opposite. The bulbs produce flower stalks that are very rigid and unbraidable. The cloves are generally larger than those of Soft Neck varieties and have more of a complex, stronger flavor. They are easier to peel because they don’t have as much protective papery skin, but this also means they have a shorter shelf life.
Planting Garlic Garlic is typically planted by using individual cloves of the garlic head. The cloves act as seeds. Garlic cloves are traditionally available in the garden center in fall, when it is the time to plant. It’s considered best to plant garlic after the first major frost, between mid-October and late November, but you can plant cloves of garlic as late as January. Each clove will produce one plant that will produce a new garlic head with an average of 20 cloves for a soft-neck variety or 6-8 cloves on a hard-neck variety.
When planting, choose a sunny, well-drained site that has a lot of organic matter. A spot that gets at least 6 hours of sun is ideal. Like other bulbs, it’s a good idea to plant garlic with bone meal. Garlic also likes nitrogen rich soils. This can be as easy as amending your soil with a manure based compost. Plant the cloves individually, pointed ends up, so they sit about 2 inches under the soil surface. Space them about 4 inches apart from each other, and if you’re planting multiple rows, space the rows about 18" apart. Be sure to leave the protective skin on the individual cloves, and do not separate the cloves until right before you plant them.
Garlic also plays well with others. It contains the chemical Allicin which has been shown to have natural fungicide and pesticide properties. Co-planted with lettuce and cabbage, garlic can act as a natural deterrent to snails and slugs.
During our rainy fall and winter season, you won’t need to water, but the Garlic shouldn’t go longer than a week without watering. In late winter when the garlic sprouts you’ll want to fertilize every two weeks with a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
In the late spring to summer, like their other allium cousins, the garlic plants will send up flower heads. They are extremely attractive, but can rob the plant of energy. By removing the flower heads the energy will go back into producing large meaty cloves. This is also a good time to stop watering your garlic.
For its final stage of maturity, garlic favors hot, dry conditions. About a month before harvest, early to mid-June, stop watering your garlic plants. This encourages a strong flavor in the bulb. As the clove reaches maturity, the leaves will start to brown and die away. It’s time to harvest when about half of the foliage has begun to change from green to yellow or brown. Once harvested, hang the cloves in a cool dry place for about two to seven weeks, depending on variety. If you have grown soft-neck garlic you can braid the foliage before hanging it. After that brush the dirt off, trim the roots off and they are ready to be enjoyed. |
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