It’s Oregon, and the cool, rainy weather is starting to set in. This might seem like a weird time to think about planting anything at all, but it’s actually the best time of year to plant garlic!
So why plant garlic in the fall? That probably seems counterproductive, as nothing will even start to poke through the ground until next spring. Won’t it just rot in the ground all that time? Nope! In fact, garlic likes the cool, damp weather to sit in the ground, protected from the worst of the elements, and focus on growing and strengthening its roots. It needs to do this so that in the spring when the good weather sets in, it is ready to quickly snap out of dormancy and sprout healthy leaves right away. This is what it takes to develop those large bulbs that you’ll love to harvest in the summer.
Here are some Great Garlic Facts that you might not know…
Garlic is in the Allium family and is a relative of onions, scallions, leeks, chives, and shallots.
There are two main varieties of garlic: Softneck and hardneck, and there are some significant differences between them:
- Softneck garlic has a milder flavor and stores very well — since it has a nice long shelf life, this is the variety that you’ll find on grocery store shelves. For a lot of folks, this is the only kind of garlic that they have ever eaten!
- Hardneck garlic tends to have a stronger, spicier flavor, but it doesn’t last as long on the shelf. The cloves tend to be larger, tastier, and make for a rewarding harvest from your garden. Since softneck is so much easier to find in the store, we recommend trying some hardneck garlic in your garden, even if you plant softneck garlic varieties too! (We have both kinds in the feed store right now)
Plant garlic in the fall in well composted soil (it doesnt like clay — it needs room to expand that lovely bulb). You can plant any time of year, but fall is best.
You can plant garlic cloves from the store and they will grow, but it’s better to choose garlic that has been selected specifically for seeding. These bulbs, like the ones we carry, have been chosen because of the size, quality and flavor of their bulbs, and are also inspected to make sure they are disease and pest free.
Cut off the garlic blossoms when they first appear. If you let it, garlic will will have a beautiful flower that looks like a little firework (probably white, pink or purple) on the end of a long, thin stem. If you want a big, flavorful garlic bulb at harvest time, though, you should remove the flower stalk when it first appears.
When garlic first begins to flower, it will send up a long, thin shoot with an elegant bud on the end. On hardneck garlic, these will be quite stout and start to curl up like a French horn. These shoots are called garlic scapes or garlic whistles, and are what need to be removed as soon as they begin to curl. Don’t throw these away, though! You can eat garlic whistles, and they are very tasty. Chop them thin and sauteé them as you would an onion in any dish, or mix them into biscuit dough for delightfully spiced-up garlic whistle biscuits.
Harvest garlic bulbs when all leaves have dried and the plant looks dead.
Preserve or “cure” garlic bulbs by hanging them in a warm, dark, well ventilated location to dry for 2-3 weeks.
Cured garlic will last for several months in your pantry, no refrigeration needed.
You can pickle garlic and it is amazingly delicious! Also try adding garlic cloves to your pickled cucumbers for a tongue-tingling twist on the classic pickle flavor.
(For more awesome garlic planting, growing and harvesting tips, check out “Grow Your Own Garlic!” at Portland Edible Gardens.)
So are you ready to plant some garlic? Come down to the feed store and get your garlic for planting today!
