Garlic Part 3

It's about time I got around to part three of the now Garlic post trilogy.

As you can see the Monaro Purple hardneck garlic I planted in the Garlic pt. 2 post on the 31st of March is well and truly on its way.

After planting care After planting your garlic it will need a good watering and from there on the soil will need to be kept moist at the least.
While garlic will tolerate dry periods it will preform best if the soil they are growing in is kept moist.

Mulching is also important to garlic for two main reasons.
The first is to assist in the watering and keeping moist (prevent drying out of) the soil it is growing in .

Second is to help suppress weed growth.

I used straw and autumn leaves that I put through the chipper for my mulch, but any of the usual suspects will do.

I'd also recommend a dose of seaweed and fish emulsion at the beginning of each month just to keep them ticking along.


Click on photo for larger view.



Harvesting and storing garlic will happen sometime in lateish summer when the top of the leaves start to yellow but before they have died right back.

Go easy when harvesting the bulbs as they do bruise easy leaving them open to rotting. It's also best if you can harvest during a dry period, so lay off the watering at least a week before harvesting if possible. This will help harden the bulbs and allow better storage.

To store, keep the leaves on the bulbs and don't separate the cloves until you need them, allow them two or three weeks to dry in an airy place out of direct sunlight.

And if you want to get really creative then you might like to try your hand at plaiting garlic softnecks only.


Finally growing problems, pest and diseases. The main issue with garlic is humidity which will go on to cause fungal disease.
If you are growing garlic in a high humidity area then space your plants a little further apart and plant and area that gets full sunshine all day.

Downy Mildew can be a problem in damp and overcast conditions. Treat accordingly or your favorite way.
There are several other problems that can occur, but if good crop rotation and plant maintenance is followed they should not be a problem.

Garlic is also good for you, so they say at Garlic Central

Garlic pt. 1
Garlic pt. 2

Well that's it for me. I could easily write a book on how to grow garlic but it's been done a few times already and I just wanted to put up and overview of growing garlic without going into too much detail.
Happy Garlic growing and if there are any questions then I'm only to happy to answer.

Garlic Part 2

After promising Garlic Pt. 2 all week, I went and got myself all inspired and decided to lead by example, ie. plant my own and explain the steps I went through.

So if you're ready I suppose I should start from the beginning.

Site selection, same as real estate, Position, position, position.
Garlic prefers a sunny position.(That was easy)






I'm planting the Hardneck variety 'Monaro Purple' today, I'll plant the Softneck variety 'Italian White' in a week or two.

The three bulbs I received from Green Harvest gave me 28 cloves which, if I planted in one straight row would be about 5mts long and at 9 cloves per bulb that should yield me somewhere around 252 cloves, fingers crossed.






Soil Preparation, is very similar to carrots where by you use a part of the garden that has been manured and enriched for a previous crop. Too much fertility and you'll get all top and no bottom.
Also the growth will be too "soft" and will be more susceptible to disease.

I was going to use my mighty Cow manure on this bed as well as the compost but after consulting a few reference books I decided against it (I didn't want to run the risk of too "soft" growth) and just added some of my best compost at a bucket full per mtq sq.





I have a slightly acid soil here and all my reference books suggested Garlic like a slightly alkaline soil so on goes the dolomite again at a hand full per/mtr sq. I should have done this about two or three weeks ago but it's not a perfect world.











The Garlic bed all dug over and ready for planting.

















Planting time? Now.
Well for me anyhow.

Garlic likes a month or two of cold weather from below 0-10 degrees Celsius and is usually planted in autumn or early winter.

It seems everyone has an opinion on when's the best time to plant and in the long run it's probably best to use local knowledge or experiment from year to year to find your best planting time.




Planting, Plant cloves 10cm (4 in) deep, spacing them 18cms (7 in) apart in rows 35(14 in) to 40 cms (16 in)apart.
Edit, 1/4/09. Some where around here I should have mentioned to plant pointy end up.


There's more to this than I thought so I'm going for a Garlic Part 3 which will include after care, Pest and Diseases, and Harvesting.

Garlic Part 1

Garlic Part 3

Garlic Part 1

Right'o, Garlic.

What got me started on Garlic was the plethora of articles popping up in the indigenous gardening magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens and Gardening Australia, plus most of the online mail order nursery's like Green Harvest and Diggers have been sending me e-mails about their garlic.

So I'm guessing it must be Garlic time.

One thing that struck me was information about Hardneck and Softneck garlic which is info I'd not come across before.
So what follows is my take on Hardneck and Softneck garlic and which witch is which.

Firstly is the softneck which is the most common garlic we all know and love and the one you are most likely to find in the supermarket.
This is because softneck garlic is easier to grow and plant mechanically and also keeps for longer than hardneck.
There are two main types of softneck garlic: silverskin and artichoke. Silverskin garlic is most common simply because it's easier to grow and keeps longer. Artichoke garlic tends to have fewer but larger cloves and a milder flavour. The artichoke garlic bulb wrappers are coarser than those of silverskins and sometimes have purple blotches.


In a nutshell softneck refers to the fact that bulbs are covered in a white outer flaky skin and it does not produce a flower stem. Simple as that.

Softneck varieties are the easiest to grow and will accept the widest variety of climates.
If you are in the slightly warmer parts of Australia then this is the one to go for. Not for the tropics though.

The variety I'm planting is Italian white from Green Harvest.
Green Harvest suggests,

'Italian White is a well-known bulb with flat, grey-green leaves; 'Italian White’ is a soft-neck type with creamy white skin, medium to large bulb with up to 17 cloves per bulb.

Worth buying just for cooking as this organic garlic has a superb flavour and will keep for many months'.

Diggers also have Australian White, Early White, Italian Red, Melbourne Market and Silverskin.

Next, or second if you like, is Hardneck varieties.

Hardneck varieties prefer a mild and cool climate with a cool spring. My springs can warm up quickly at times so I'll just have to wait and see how I go with this one.

There are three main types of hardneck garlic: rocambole, porcelain and purple stripe. Rocambole garlic usually has up to a dozen cloves of a tan or browny colour. Porcelain garlic has a satiny white wrapper and the fewest cloves in a bulb, perhaps as few as four very large cloves. Porcelain garlic is often mistaken for elephant garlic. Purple stripe garlic is highly distinctive because of its colouring, with bright purple markings.

The variety I'm growing is a Rocambole called 'Manaro Purple'. from Green Harvest who go on to say, ‘Monaro Purple’ is a hardneck or top-setting variety which is suitable only for cooler areas. It is also called a ‘rocambole’ variety from the habit the flower stem has of looping over on itself to produce a distinctive twist. Rocambole types have a sweet, nutty flavour with 6-8 cloves per bulb.


So if a softneck is defined as having no flower stem then you'd be thinking that hardnecks would have a flower stem and you'd be right, but there is a twist.

Hardneck garlics have a "scape" - (a flower stalk) that coil and bend in curious ways. On the top of this scape grow a number of bulbils which are often mistakenly referred to as garlic flowers.

To get a good description of this "scape" then "Yard and Garden News" have it explained it clearly.

Well that's it for softneck and hardneck varieties. I hope I haven't confused you anymore than I am. If you have any tips, additions, corrections or questions then please let me know.

Tomorrow I'll post some general info on soil prep and planting.

Garlic Part 2

Garlic Part 3