November is here and it’s planting time for garlic – one of the joys of the autumn season, says Tony Flanagan.
If you’ve grown garlic before you’ll know that it’s one of the easiest of crops to grow: easy to plant, easy to maintain, easy to harvest and easy to store. For many it has become an essential kitchen ingredient, bringing flavour and a pungency to all kinds of dishes. And there are many claims to its health benefits too!
Although you can plant in early spring or winter, autumn planted cloves will bring you a harvest in early summer. And if the soil conditions are suitable, then there’s no reason not to plant in autumn. Before purchasing, however, you may want to decide whether you want to grow a hardneck or softneck variety, or even both!
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SOFTNECK OR HARDNECK?
Softneck varieties tend to be milder in taste, produce smaller cloves but are quicker to mature and store for longer. Hardneck types tend to have a stronger taste, mature more slowly, don’t store as long but do produce larger cloves. And hardnecks generally speaking are more winter hardy than softnecks.
SCAPES
One of the features of hardnecks is that they can sometimes (depending on growing conditions) send up what is called a scape. This is basically a long stalk with a bud at the end about to burst into flower. Scapes are very flavoursome if chopped up and added to various recipes.
The downside is that if the plant does go to flower (bolt) the bulbs won’t store so well. For this reason cut the stalk off at the base and use up affected bulbs first.
Sending up flower stalks (bolting) is less common in softnecks but they will still need to be removed. Bolting is a result of fluctuating weather conditions – wet, then dry for example.
SOIL PREPARATION
Garlic likes a well-draining, fertile soil, rich with lots of well-rotted organic matter such as home-made compost. It is a good idea then to add well-rotted organic matter to the bed a month or so prior to planting.
What garlic doesn’t like is waterlogged ground so if that’s the case with your growing area it’s better to start them off in modular cell trays filled with multipurpose compost in a cold frame, unheated greenhouse or polytunnel for planting out in spring. Or just wait until early spring and plant them out directly.
PLANTING
When you get your garlic bulbs you will need to split them into cloves, and it is these that you plant, flat end down and the pointed end upwards. Larger cloves will produce larger bulbs so you might want to discard the smaller ones (or not as the case may be – a small bulb still has its uses but won’t be one to brag about!).
To plant your cloves, create a drill deep enough so that the top of the clove sits about 2.5cm (1in) below the surface of the soil and then space each one 10-15cm (4-6in) apart, though you might want to go for 15cm (6in) apart as more air circulating between the plants may make them less prone to rust (a fungal disease) later on. Rows should be 20cm (8in) apart. Once planted give the area a good watering.
AFTERCARE
Garlic very much looks after itself over winter. You may want to cover the crop with some horticultural fleece or netting when the tips peep through as birds have a habit of dislodging them. If this does happen, however, just pop the developing plant back in its place and it will re-root.
Applying a mulch of home-made compost around the plant will protect the roots through any exceptionally cold spells, keep moisture in and suppress weeds.
During late spring and early summer, keep the plot well watered during any dry spells but you can ease off as the leaves start to turn yellow and approach maturity.
HARVESTING
Let the leaves go yellow and bend naturally (don’t force them) and then you can lift the bulbs. Don’t pull the plants by the leaves as they will snap, leaving the bulb still in the ground. Lever a fork underneath each and ease out the bulb gently. If the weather is dry, you can leave your bulbs to dry out on the surface of the soil for a few days before taking them into somewhere warm and dry to complete the drying process – under a cloche, in a greenhouse or polytunnel or in a warm, airy shed. Placing them on a frame of raised wire netting will help dry them more quickly.
Leave them to dry for about three weeks and then shake off any excess dry soil attached to the roots – they will now be ready for storage. You can either tie the leaves together to form bunches of bulbs, plait the leaves or cut off the leaves and store the bulbs in hessian sacks. The bunches and sacks should be hung up in a cool, dark place.
GROWING IN CONTAINERS
If you don’t have a lot of space, you can grow garlic in containers too. Choose a largish pot (about 40cm/16in wide and 25cm/10in deep) filled with an equal mix of multipurpose compost, well-rotted organic matter and grit (for drainage). Plant 10cm (4in) apart and 2.5cm (1in) below the surface of the compost. Keep especially well watered in dry weather.
WATCH OUT FOR
Rust is quite common on garlic but unless the leaves are heavily infected it will not prove detrimental to the bulb itself. Avoiding planting garlic too close together may mitigate against this.
Sometimes you will find cloves forming on the stem. This is caused by variations in the weather during growth – the cloves can still be used however.
Kitchen Garden’s Top 5 Garlic Varieties
‘CZECHMATE‘
Originating from Moravia in the Czech Republic, this hardneck variety is best planted in the autumn. The purple outer skin thinly covers a purple-striped bulb underneath, both plump but tightly compacted. (D T Brown)
‘RHAPSODY WIGHT’
For an early crop in June, this purple softneck variety produces large, flavoursome bulbs. It originated form the village of Cadours in South West France. Recommended as a variety for the showbench by Kings Seeds.
‘EDEN ROSE’
This is a hardy and reliable traditional French hardneck with a subtle flavour. It has attractive white skin with pink shades and stores very well considering it is a hardneck variety. (Thompson and Morgan)
‘GERMIDOUR’
This lovely French softneck has an attractive, violet skin with white cloves within. Mild in flavour, expect large bulbs which will store well. It is also an RHS Award of Garden Merit winner! (Dobies)
‘PICARDY WIGHT’
One for spring planting, this softneck variety originated in Picardy, France, even said to be growing on the battlefields of the Somme. Grows well even in wetter and cooler conditions. (Mr Fothergill’s)
