Garlic Musings

Tuesday, 12 Aug 08 (posted about 3 months ago) Overcast 23°C / 73°F

I recently checked McGee & Stuckey’s Bountiful Container out of the library because of the warm recommendations I saw in the container gardening group. I figure that raised beds aren’t really much more than large containers.

I really like the book and recommend it to anyone who gardens in a small space, whether in containers or not. The detailed information about varieties is interesting and seems well thought out.

I was particularly captivated by their suggestions regarding garlic. They don’t think it is worth growing garlic bulbs in containers since it requires such a long season. This seems also to apply to my space, where I’m trying to get two, and hopefully three harvests per year from every square foot of garden.

However, they do recommend growing green garlic and garlic scapes. The difference is that to grow bulbs, you plant cloves in early Fall and harvest the following summer, which means the garlic occupies the garden for 3 seasons; in contrast, to grow green garlic and scapes, you plant cloves in Spring and harvest whenever the plant looks appealing, which means the garlic occupies the garden for 1 or 1-1/2 seasons. Green garlic can be harvested young and used like green onions, or left to get a bit bigger and the scape (flowering stem) can be harvested. You can succession plant the garlic through spring and have green garlic for many weeks.

They recommend using grocery store garlic as seed garlic. I’ve read that some store garlics are treated so that they don’t sprout, but I have no reason to doubt the book’s assertion that store garlic would be more or less successful. It just seems a bit boring. I’d like to order some specialty seed garlics to try out, perhaps in comparison with grocery store garlic. These seed garlics aren’t really seeds, they are cloves that you plant.

But the trouble is that seed garlics are only available in the fall. Should I buy them now and store them until spring? Should I buy them now and plant them like I would if I were growing garlic heads, but harvest them earlier in the spring instead? And is this even a good idea in the first place? If all I’m interested in is green garlic, does the variety I plant even really matter? I can’t figure it out.

Suggestions? Comments? Declarations? Objections?

Want to comment?

Ceae wrote:
I tried the green garlic just as the book suggests using regular old store bought cloves. I popped some in a pot and set it on my kitchen windowsill.

My memory is not crystal clear (and that was way before the folia note-taking days :) but I do remember it grew well. Seems to me that I was able to take several cut-and-come-again cuttings. It did have a garlic flavour – but milder than a clove. I liked it, yet for some reason I only planted it that one time. I’m not sure if my curiosity was satisfied so I just never bothered again or if I decided it wasn’t worth it for some reason or another. I use a LOT of garlic, so it may have been that I just could easily produce enough for all my cooking.

I would suggest you go out and pop a few grocery store cloves into your garden right now! It doesn’t take much space and you might get some green garlic before winter.

If you want to experiment with specialty garlic, then I would plant them in the fall and harvest them in the spring.

Are they the ones that also suggested planting ginger? I did that too … it makes a great looking houseplant!

Good luck.

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
Thanks ceae! I hadn’t thought to plant it now to harvest this fall. I’ll do that. When we belonged to a CSA, we used to get both green garlic and scapes, and I liked them both quite a bit. If I can grow them easily, it would be worth it to me. I’d have to continue buying garlic to cook with, because I use a lot of it too.

They did suggest planting ginger. That sounds interesting, but my little plant monster (a 13 year old cat) wouldn’t allow it to live. She eats anything green, so I only have one houseplant – a succulent that she’s not interested in for some reason. That crazy cat loves broccoli!

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Nax wrote:
Trust me— grocery store garlic will sprout! It does it ALL THE TIME in my cabinet!

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Cmagnus wrote:
I used to do this every time I got a clove from the store that was pre-sprouted. The greens are yummy. I’ve been researching garlic because I want to grow it, which means planting in september. Some varieties last all year; the shortest I’ve seen listed is 3 months. The grocery store garlic, not surprisingly, is a variety that stores a very long time.

It doesn’t take much garden space at all, and it’s a great companion plant. The square-foot gardening distances they give you for garlic are for if you have the intention of getting it to bulb. If you’re just going for greens, there’s no compelling reason why you need to give it more than a square inch or so. If you’re concerned about it lasting over the winter, you could just tuck it into the corners of your beds and transplant it where you want it in the spring. Most varieties should overwinter just fine in your raised beds, and they certainly won’t be competing with anything and wasting space in January.

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Srats56 wrote:
Everything ya need to know about garlic and growing it
http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com

This is where I get my garlic, hands down better than any store bought garlic, no comparison.

He has over 40 varieties available, a wide range of hotness and flavor fast, promt service and if ya have questions you can call him direct. I am putting in double what I had last fall.

garlic is very easy to grow and is low maintence, it will over winter just fine . Take a look at my fall 2007 and spring gardens under removed plantings to see pics of last falls crop.

The store bought garlic must be refrigerated by law and this will cause it to break down rapidly once removed, garlic that has not been refrigerated will keep from 3 -8 months depending on variety.

I guess the law that requires refrigeration is to benefit the garlic growers not us consumers, no surprise there eh.

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
Thanks for all the ideas. I will check out the link and think about this much more.

I was just at the farmers market and was disappointed that they didn’t have garlic. A couple of growers I talked to said it would be 2-3 weeks more yet. It seems like it was earlier last year.

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Judith505 wrote:
Wow. I’m glad you made that post. I did plant some garlic bulbs in late spring, intending to harvest next fall (for bulbs). Unfortunately, the ornamental grass got out of control and over shadowed it. That’s the only reason I can think of as to why it hasn’t grown any tops. But, maybe it will make an appearance in the spring. This was very informative and I’m going to click on over to the garlic site and do some reading…

Posted on 13 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Nax wrote:
Great link! I’m adding garlic to my fall experimental garden!

Posted on 14 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Redloon wrote:
I was introduced to garlic scapes for the first time this summer, as part of my CSA share. I never considered eating garlic greens before, but my husband and I are now hopelessly addicted for life!

I really like the idea of growing garlic scapes as a June harvest crop. :)

Posted on 17 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
That’s where I first got green garlic and scapes – in my CSA box. I also fell in love with them!

Posted on 17 Aug 08 (about 3 months ago)