HOW TO GROW GARLIC IN COLD CLIMATES

GARLIC SEED:

First of all, if you live in a northern climate, try to find cold-hardy garlic. More often than not, this will be the Allium sativum ophioscorodon, or hard-neck garlic. This subspecies of garlic is distinguished by producing - during the growing season - a scape which is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the garlic flower. It may look a little bit like a flower but it is not as it produces small bulbils which will grow true to the variety when planted.

Garlic seed is actually one of the cloves from a head of garlic. Garlic growers usually save the largest and best formed heads of garlic to use as seed for re-planting their crops.

This ‘ophio' or hard-neck garlic will grow and produce really well in the colder climates. However, it is important to get seed which has not been treated to prevent sprouting. Since garlic is difficult to store and sprouting is one of the problems most often encountered in storage, large growers and brokers will frequently treat the garlic to prevent that.

One of the best places to buy high quality, untreated seed is at the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival held in Saugerties, NY the last weekend in September of each year. A number of very fine garlic growers (many of whom are also organic growers) are vendors at the Festival. They sell their largest and best heads of garlic as ‘garlic seed.' You will also find a large variety of garlic for sale there - hard-neck as well as soft neck. These will be the varieties that you too will want to grow.

BEST TIME TO PLANT:

October is the month to plant in cold areas of the country. Much like other bulbs - tulips, daffodils - you want the garlic to make good root growth with little, if any, top growth. So plant anywhere from the middle to the end of October.

TYPE OF SOIL:

You cannot expect to grow garlic well in either heavy clay soils or very sandy soils. So if you have either of those types of soil, it is wise to spend time improving it with compost or organic matter. Garlic will grow best in a ph range of 6.2 to 6.8. However, it will tolerate - but not thrive in - a wider ph range.

PLANTING TECHNIQUE:

Take the whole head of seed garlic and very carefully break it apart without bruising the cloves or damaging the root end or the growing tips. The individual cloves are planted to the depth of about 2 ½ times their size in well-drained soil of good tilth. The growing tip (the sharp pointed end) is planted up and is covered with soil. Pat the soil to firm it up.

TO MULCH OR NOT TO MULCH:

Winter Mulch: Some growers do mulch their garlic at the time of planting in the fall. The mulch is applied after the weather turns cold and the mulch is removed as early as possible in the springtime. The downside is that if the mulch is frozen to the ground it is difficult to remove it in time for the soil to start warming up as early as unmulched soil.

Unmulched ground is subject to alternate freezing and thawing which can heave the garlic seed out of the ground. However, unmulched soil warms up more quickly than mulched soil giving plants a longer growing season in which to mature.

Straw is the mulch of choice for most growers. It is applied to a depth of 4" before hard winter sets in.

Summer Mulch: this is highly recommended to help conserve and moderate soil moisture and to control weed growth. Uniform soil moisture is very important during the growing season. If it is dry then the garlic must be watered in order to perform well. It is also important to wet the soil to a depth of 12" minimum, preferably up to 18". Discontinue watering by the first of July as harvest usually occurs two weeks later. Too much water at harvest time, promotes disease problems.

FERTILIZATION:

During the spring and early summer, garlic needs nitrogen. For small growers a 5-10-10 fertilizer broadcast along the rows is usually sufficient. Rotation of the garlic crop with a legume will help to provide nitrogen for growth.

FLOWERING SCAPES:

Should you cut them off? Topset or hardneck garlics produce these scapes and they start appearing in early May. These should be cut off. Some growers feel that this should be done as soon as they appear and others feel that they should be allowed to develop a woody stalk before cutting as some varieties tend to store longer when this is done. Whatever you decide, do not throw the scapes away. The young ones may be split vertically and sauteed briefly for an unusual and delicious dish. Also they make attractive dried arrangements for the wintertime. However, do cut them off at some point because if left to mature on the plant some of the energy is sapped from bulb formation making for smaller garlic heads at harvest.

HARVESTING GARLIC

WHEN TO HARVEST: During July I receive more calls at Shale Hill Farm than at any other time of the year. Most of them concern how to tell when garlic is ready to be harvested. Some time ago David Stern, who is president of the Garlic Seed Foundation, gave me a way to determine when garlic is ready for harvest. One or two of the leaves will begin to turn yellow usually in early to mid-July. When that happens, pull up a plant and cut the bulb in half - horizontally. You will see that the bulb has developed segments that will probably be laying fairly tightly against the center stem which means that it is too early to harvest. When you begin to see the cloves just barely pulling away from the center stem, then it is time to pull the heads up.

DRYING & CURING:

As soon as the garlic is dug from the ground, take it to a dry shelter with good air circulation. The garlic should be hung or laid where it will get adequate air circulation around the entire plant. After the dirt has dried, you may take a soft brush and gently brush off the excess dirt. DO NOT RUB TOO MUCH OF THE OUTER COVERING OFF THE GARLIC as this outside wrap provides protection for winter storage. When the tops are dried, you may either cut the tops off about 1" above the top of the bulb - or you may braid the garlic plants together to hang in your kitchen.

STORAGE OF GARLIC:

Do not store garlic in the refrigerator - that is probably one of the worst places. Store in a cool place with good air circulation. We find that our garlic does well hung in plastic net bags (onions come in them) in the pantry (dry and dark). Wholesalers have large storage warehouses with proper temperature (38 to 40 degrees) and proper humidity. But this can usually be obtained only by having a special room with controlled temperature and humidity - beyond the grasp of most of us.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?

Some of our varieties have lasted into March - that is on the years that we had enough to last us that long. When springtime hits nearly all bulbs have the primeval urge to become active and start another growing season. Therefore you will begin to see some sprouting.

As a generalization, soft-neck varieties tend to have a longer storage period than hard-neck. We have had years when our hard-neck garlic begins to sprout in early December. It may be related to higher storage temperatures but I'm not really sure of the exact reason. If I have a lot of garlic that is beginning to soften or sprout, I peel and puree that garlic with lemon juice and freeze in ice cube trays. This way you can store useable garlic flavor for a longer period of time.

GROWING GARLIC IN SOUTHERN CLIMATES

If garlic is to be grown in areas where there is less than two weeks of below freezing temperatures during the winter, the garlic must be "cold-treated" in order for segmentation - the formation of cloves - to occur.

Southern growers in Zones 10 and above can plant as late as January and February in most years since above-ground leaf growth can take place all winter without damage. Some research should be spent in choosing varieties and the best source of information is other garlic growers in your area.