Garlic, April 2009, planted in the fall
Garlic is something many people do not plant, yet it very easy to grow. I’ve been growing garlic since I started my urban farm. About 4 years ago, I cleaned up a plot in the fall and planted my first edible — garlic.
Garlic is best grown when you plant a clove in the fall, let it grow over the winter, and then blossom in the spring. It is actually exactly what you buy in the grocery store — but don’t! Much of what is sold in most grocery stores is chemically treated so it won’t grow. When you grow your own garlic, you’ll find that if you leave it on the counter for a few months, it will actually sprout. Sprouted garlic doesn’t sell well in the grocery store so big agriculture fixes that.
There are a number of varieties of garlic – softneck and hardneck. Softneck is what we’re used to in the grocery store, so I tend to grow very little of it. Hardneck is what is shown here. I believe (based upon my notes from the fall) that this is a purple striped garlic. Imagine the skin on the outside white with purple stripes. You won’t have to imagine for too long. By June, I’ll be able to pull some of the garlic out of the ground.
Elephant garlic – huge and often baked and used as a spread on bread – is actually not garlic at all. It’s in the leek family. I’m growing that as well for the first time this year so we’ll have pictures of that shortly.
This picture was taken today. The garlic is about 4 to 6 inches tall and has been growing since Halloween last year.
There are two philosophies about growing garlic. 1) cut the scape (the stalk) when it is about 3 feet tall so that the plant can concentrate on growing the bulb. 2) don’t cut the scape and let it grow normally. Read up and you’ll find passionate people advocating for both perspectives. I haven’t found a significant difference over the past few years. I generally cut scapes when I want to use them. In an average year, about half the scapes get cut.
Scapes are great to cook with but beware — they are strong! Throw them in a stir-fry and your neighbors will know it for weeks. At the very least, head over to the farmers market during their spring growing season and pick up a bunch of garlic scapes just to try it.
If you’re interested in growing garlic this year, hurry up. You can still grow spring garlic but it should be in the ground today (if you’re in Northern Illinois, at least). You need to give it plenty of time for bulb development so a bulb planted today should be fully formed by October.
Once we get some garlic ready to pull out of the ground, I’ll talk more about curing the garlic (fancy for letting it dry) and storing it. Stored properly, garlic should last you all winter.
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