The Edible Bulb: Garlic

Until the 1930’s folks in the United States snubbed garlic as being working class or too ethnic.  Thankfully all that has changed. Most cooks now recognize garlic as a major seasoning.  Americans consume more than 250 million pounds of garlic annually.  It is used to flavor sauces, dips, spreads, pickles, breads, and more versatile in the kitchen than its close cousin the onion.

Garlic is one of the easiest bulbs to grow.  It is one of the few crops which do best with a Fall planting and require about eight months to mature.  From the first frost to early November is the ideal time to plant.

Choose a well-drained location with rich organic, loamy type soil.  Heavy clay or stony soils will result in misshapen bulbs.  It is recommended that you take a soil test to determine the pH and whether amendments are needed or not.  These test kits are available for purchase at our office.  Do not use a site which was used to grow onion family crops.  Garlic is a poor competitor for weeds so mulch with two to four inches of straw or plant a cover crop, such as buckwheat or rye, to keep weeds down.

When selecting cloves to plant, do not use bulbs from the supermarket.  Some have been treated to prevent after harvest sprouting, and are often not native and poorly suited for our climate  Purchase fresh cloves from your local garden center or mail order supply company.  There are three different varieties from which to choose:

• Softneck: This kind stays soft during harvest and is used in braiding. It tends to have larger cloves on the outside and smaller cloves inside.  It has the strongest flavor and store well. Softneck are less winter hardy than stiffneck.
• Stiffneck: These have a central stem that curls as it grows.  Stiffneck garlic is milder in flavor, easy to peel, and grows in a single ring around the stem.  In contrast to the softneck, they are cold hardy, but do not store as well.
• Elephant: So called because they are larger bulbs with fewer and bigger cloves.  It has mild flavor and is not as cold hardy as the other kinds.

For best results, consider planting a mix of the kinds.  Plant with the tips up, two inches deep, four to six inches apart in rows fifteen to twenty-four inches apart.  For elephant garlic, a depth of three inches and spaced eight to twelve inches is recommended.  Water and mulch.  Come Spring your garlic will grow through the mulch. Fertilize in the Spring.  Weed and water throughout the season.

If flowers develop, cut them off to encourage nutrients to go into bulb production.  When stems turn brown in July it is time to carefully dig your garlic.  Place the bulbs in a dry area out of the sun for a few weeks to cure.  Store trimmed bulbs in mesh bags.  The hardest part of growing garlic is the wait usually mid-July it is ready.  Seems so far off, but just imagine the taste of fresh garlic on your table!

The Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County have the free “Growing Garlic” publication for more information.  For a copy, please contact us at 570-963-6842 or email LackawannaMG@psu.edu

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator
Penn State Extension-Lackawanna County