Garlic: It almost makes winter worthwhile

Traditionally you plant garlic around the winter solstice. In New Zealand why not plant to acknowledge Matariki and the start of a new gardening year in Aotearoa?

A super-fun crop to grow, a bulb of garlic is divided up into individual cloves which are planted in winter and swell into large fat bulbs by the middle of summer.

SOW AND GROW

Transplant: May to July Position: Full sun Harvest: 26 weeks

Good for beginners

GET STARTED

Traditionally you plant garlic on the shortest day of the year (which is June 20-22, depending on the year). But actually you can plant it at any point from late autumn to midwinter.

STEP BY STEP

Press individual cloves into the soil so that they’re approximately 5cm deep, with the pointy end facing up. Space cloves 20cm apart.

Garlic cloves should germinate in 7-21 days.

In cooler areas and/or if your soil is frozen, you can speed things up by starting your garlic cloves in seed trays or punnets and transplanting a few weeks later when the green shoots are about 5cm high.

GROWING TIPS

Garlic likes a rich soil, so dig in wellrotted manure, compost or sheep pellets where you plan to grow it and work it in to a depth of 20cm.

Your crop will only be as good as the seed you start with, so buy organic bulbs and split them up, keeping only the fat, outer cloves to plant – you can eat the smaller, inner cloves. Don’t plant imported garlic (you can tell it’s imported because the roots are scraped off) as it’s often sprayed with an anti-sprouting hormone.

Feed garlic with nitrogen-rich liquid fertiliser every couple of weeks from early to mid-spring. Then stop fertilising, because you want the bulbs to fatten up underneath the soil rather than produce lots of growth up top.

Water frequently during spring and summer. Garlic resents competition from weeds, and also doesn’t like having its roots disturbed by weeding around it, so once your garlic is up, cover the soil with a thick layer of mulch, such as fallen leaves mixed with grass clippings.

Garlic is traditionally harvested around the longest day in summer (December 20-21) or when the first outer leaves have died off. Don’t yank it directly from the soil, as you will rip the stalks right off. Instead, dig around the bulbs gently with a garden fork, trying not to break the protective layers of skin.

Brush any dirt off and hang the bulbs in a dry, airy spot to cure for a week or two until the wrappers dry out. Trim the roots and tops, and store it in a bag or plait it together and hang it in your kitchen.

STANDOUT VARIETIES

There are two sorts of garlic.

Soft-necked garlic is the more widely grown: it doesn’t flower, is generally milder tasting and has great keeping qualities.

Hard-necked garlic are heirloom varieties, which produce flowers. The flowers should be snapped off, so they don’t sap the bulb’s energy, but they are edible, so use them in salads or stir-fries.

The garlic at your garden centre is usually the French white-skinned variety ‘Printanor’, which keeps well but has a sweet, fairly mild flavour. Heirloom variety ‘Ajo Rojo’ (sometimes called ‘Spanish Red’) has a more intense fiery garlicky flavour. ‘Kakanui’ has a milder flavour that becomes stronger and is ideal for pestos and dressings. Bulky elephant garlic is actually a type of leek rather than

garlic but unlike leeks it produces a large garlic-like bulb. It has a mild garlicky flavour, produces an edible flower (remove it if you want larger bulbs) and stores well.

TROUBLESHOOTING

Allium rust is a fungal disease that appears as orange pustules all over the foliage. The leaves turn yellow and shrivel up, bulb formation ceases and the bulbs are ruined for storage. It thrives in warm, damp conditions so is particularly prevalent in warmer parts of the country. If it occurs, remove infected leaves and burn rather than compost. Plant garlic in a different spot each year. You can also try planting garlic in autumn for a late-spring or early summer harvest.

Garlic is also susceptible to attacks from black aphids if the plant gets too dry, so keep it well watered.