There can't be an easier crop to grow than garlic, nor one that brings as much satisfaction at harvest time. Stick some cloves into the ground in November, feed it a few times in June, and come July the dirt rewards you with fat glorious heads of Vitamin G. You just can't buy garlic like this. Well, not unless you know a garlic farmer.
Our goal has been to grow enough garlic to last us through to the next year's harvest. I think we got close last year, but our storage failed us. This year, we're taking a 5-day intensive class in root-cellar construction, and should have our own root cellar built by late September, ready to keep our garlic – and onions, shallots, squash, beets, carrots, and parsnips – safely through the winter.
We planted three full beds with garlic last fall, and today I pulled almost 200 heads. We've been adding new varieties each year. We started with German Extra Hardy our first year, and added Marino and Russian Red the following year. A local garlic grower hipped us to Elmer's Topset 2 years ago, and last year I ordered 3 new varieties from Big John's: Killarney Red, Romanian Red, and Metechi.
I wish I could give a detailed description of the flavor characteristics of each variety, but what I concentrate most on are the clove pattern, size potential, and keeping qualities. I think this fall we'll have to do a series of flavor tests so I can pretend a higher level of expertise in the future.
A few of the varieties we grow have the capacity to produce massive heads, but Elmer's Topset always seems to come out the winner. This is the largest of the heads I harvested today:
I'd also like to do a longer, detailed post on growing garlic for those of you that'd like to give it a try. Best of intentions, always. Stay tuned.
Wow, that's a lotta garlic! I'll be planting garlic for the first time this fall, so more details would definitely be appreciated.
Posted by: chris | 29 July 2009 at 01:20 PM
Yes, I'll be a first-timer this fall too. I can't wait!
Posted by: Lee | 29 July 2009 at 06:34 PM
Me three - that garlic looks so good! Keep it up, this is a great blog!
Posted by: Tolu | 30 July 2009 at 08:18 AM
Oh, please do give instructions! This fall we're constructing beds for next spring's planting and I'd love to stick some garlic in there. My favorite thing about our CSA is the garlic they give us, but it's not enough, so I want to grow more of my own.
Posted by: Susan | 01 August 2009 at 03:47 PM