Sowing savory seasoners: add zest to your palate and garden with garlic

Flower & Garden Magazine, Sept-Oct, 1998 by Kris Wetherbee

Add zest to your palate and garden with garlic.

I first fell in love with the wonderful fresh flavor of garlic quite by accident. While making garlic bread, I discovered that my jar of powdered garlic ran empty, so I improvised a spread by mixing freshly minced garlic with butter. Now I can't imagine eating garlic bread any other way.

The flavor fresh garlic can add to any culinary dish is unsurpassed. The truth is, fresh garlic is superior in taste to those lifeless jars of garlic powder. And because garlic has the ability to keep until the next harvest season, that flavor can always be right at hand.

There are "insider tips" to growing great garlic, and two of these are choosing the best varieties for your needs and knowing when to plant. This is one vegetable where timing matters, not only regarding when it should be planted but also when it should be harvested. The window of opportunity is open briefly. Miss it and you may miss out on terrific garlic with lasting flavor.

Garlic needs to go in the ground early enough to allow the roots to become established, but not so early that there's too much growth that can be killed during a cold winter. In the South or other mild-winter areas, the best time to plant is in November or December. For the Midwest and northern states, plant in late September to mid-October. Four to six weeks before the ground freezes is a good guideline. As for my garden, four different varieties go into the ground on Columbus Day, October 12th.

Garlic falls into two different groups: hardnecks and softnecks. Hardnecks love cold winters, and many people love hardneck varieties because of their larger cloves. The cloves are also easier to peel because of their somewhat loose skin, which is why their storage life is shorter than tight-skinned softneck varieties. Hardnecks are believed to be the original descendants from wild garlic and will usually send up a flower stalk as they mature.

Softnecks usually don't send up a flower stalk and are harder to peel because of their tight skins. This makes them great for storing, and given the right conditions, many varieties of softnecks can easily keep up to a year. They're adaptable to a wide range of growing climates. And if you want garlic that you can braid, softnecks are always the best choice.

A bulb of garlic consists of many individual cloves, and when planted, each clove will grow into a new bulb of garlic. When choosing cloves for planting, there are three important things to remember.

Big bulbs come from big cloves. Save your biggest and best bulbs, then plant only the largest cloves.

Plant only unblemished, solid and firm cloves. Don't plant cloves from diseased stock.

Be careful not to nick the cloves when separating the bulb. A simple nick can create a breeding ground for disease, especially in wet soil.

The type of ground garlic goes into is important, as well. The better the soil, the bigger and healthier the bulbs. "Healthy soil is the best preventative to disease," says award-winning garlic grower Bill Dunlap of Eden's Gate Farm in Applegate, Ore. With two acres in raised beds, Dunlap grows nearly 20 varieties and loses less than 1 percent of his garlic to disease and insects.

Another disease preventative is to rotate your garlic. In fact, don't grow any allium members (onions, chives, shallots or leeks) in the same ground for at least three years.

Deep, rich soil that's loose and well-drained is best. Soggy soil is a sure invitation for disease and rot. Here's where raised beds can work wonders. Heavy soil (especially clay) cannot only limit the size of the bulb, it can also encourage fungal diseases. So if your soil is heavy, add lots of organic matter such as aged manure (rabbit manure is my personal favorite), compost, straw, hay, aged sawdust, grass clippings or shredded leaves. This organic matter will also help regulate soil sulfur levels, improving garlic's taste.

Garlic needs nitrogen for leaf growth and potassium and phosphorus for the development and growth of the bulb and roots. With fertile soil you may only need to use compost or well-aged manure at planting time. If the leaves look yellowish come early spring, then side-dress with a nitrogen source like blood meal or fish meal. I work rabbit manure into the soil at planting time and sidedress with feather meal in early March.

Gently plant unpeeled cloves with the pointy side up in a sunny location. Space cloves far enough apart to allow for the development of the bulb, but not so far apart as to allow for the growth of weeds. Six inches apart is a good starting point.

How deep you plant your clove depends entirely on your location and soil. Barely cover the cloves in mild-winter areas. Gardeners in areas with severe winters should plant deeper, about 4 inches. In my garden the cloves are barely covered, then a 4-inch pile of aged horse bedding goes right on top. This will eventually settle down to about 2 inches.

A good mulch goes a long way to keeping soil moisture levels even, something garlic needs and loves, especially if you want bigger bulbs. Well-mulched garlic is also protected in cold-winter areas that may lack adequate snow cover.