How Does Your Garlic Grow?
Remember all that garlic that you planted last fall? I do! Right before putting the garden to sleep last fall, I planted my skinny raised bed with three types of garlic. I ordered organic garlic from a store online, one variety is a hardneck, the other two are softnecks.
Hardnecks have what is called a scape, which can be cut before the garlic is harvested. Scapes can be used for cooking, I love them lightly sauteed with eggs and omelets. Scapes have a mild garlic flavor, but still pack enough punch to liven up your dishes with recognizable garlicy goodness. Hardnecks also have less of a white papery skin on them and fewer bulbs per head of garlic. They are a little less shelf stable, so the hardneck varieties should be eaten first. The variety that I planted is called Persian Star, it is supposed to have a bit of a spicy flavor.
Softnecks store easily, they produce larger and more numerous bulbs than the hardnecks. They do not produce a scape. Softnecks are easy to braid and are the more common type of garlic that you will see. I planted two varieties: Lorz Italian which is mild with pinkish colored bulbs and Broadleaf Czech which is supposed to really pack a pungent spicy punch. You won't want to stand too close after I eat the Czech bad boys!!!
The thing that I love about garlic is that it is one of the first things to pop through the ground in the spring. It brings me such excitement to see the little green stalks shooting up through the ground. I know that spring is just around the corner and my heart swells with the hope of warmer days with fresh tomatoes and noodles sautéed with garlic and butter...drool...
The other benefit of garlic is that it helps to keep pests out of the garden. Just the smell of growing garlic will deter most insects from grabbing a bite to eat in your carefully planted beds. We have often planted garlic around our fruit trees to deter earwigs, apple-loving worms, and other nasty pests. It's a great way to naturally drive away those uninvited garden guests! Now if I could somehow apply this to larger human-sized pests!!! Maybe I need to eat more garlic!!!
These tall stalks are the Persian Star hardneck variety
The thing that I love about garlic is that it is one of the first things to pop through the ground in the spring. It brings me such excitement to see the little green stalks shooting up through the ground. I know that spring is just around the corner and my heart swells with the hope of warmer days with fresh tomatoes and noodles sautéed with garlic and butter...drool...
Signs of spring!!!
The other benefit of garlic is that it helps to keep pests out of the garden. Just the smell of growing garlic will deter most insects from grabbing a bite to eat in your carefully planted beds. We have often planted garlic around our fruit trees to deter earwigs, apple-loving worms, and other nasty pests. It's a great way to naturally drive away those uninvited garden guests! Now if I could somehow apply this to larger human-sized pests!!! Maybe I need to eat more garlic!!!
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