The Goods on Garlic

So my first garlic 'adventure' started this past fall when I ordered my "starts" from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. This western Virginia company actually recommends that you order your garlic starts now if you want to be sure the varieties you want are available. Garlic is planted in the fall, overwinters and then is harvested in early to mid summer, depending upon variety and if you planted in September or November etc. I chose two kinds, a hardneck variety and a softneck French Silverskin that is the variety commonly found at grocery stores. There are differences in size, color, flavor, as well as storage length for different varieties. In general the hardnecks offer good variety, but do not store well.

I planted 88 cloves of garlic in my 4x8 raised bed back in September. We started pulling a few green garlic heads in may and harvesting for drying in mid June. We just pulled the very last of our garlic this past weekend and think that we may have waited just a bit too long. I also planted five cloves of elephant garlic.
So far I have greatly enjoyed harvesting and cooking with my fresh garlic. And at cost per head ranging from $1-$2.50 per head at market, growing your own is an easy and delicious way to save a few bucks. For people like my husband and I who go through at least two heads of garlic a week the savings add up. An additional bonus, garlic is great to plant around other crops like tomatoes to help deter various pests. You can surround your tomato bed with garlic- that will help to protect young plants. Just remember that for garlic to reach a good size it cannot be over crowded.
This time of year in addition to heads of garlic, you can still find Garlic Scapes these delicious green stems from maturing garlic heads tend to provide a wonderful garlic flavor with a little less "bite." Click on the above link to find a great website full of recipes and info for garlic scapes and other fare.

I found a fantastic sounding White Bean and Garlic Scapes dip recipe in this week's food and drink section in The Week magazine. It called for 1/3 cup fresh chopped garlic scapes some lemon juice, salt, pepper, a can of cannellini beans (rinsed), 1/4 cup olive oil all tossed in a food processor. I also so a nice idea on a PBS cooking program Sunday evening for a fast garlic prep for marinades. The whole head of garlic was sliced across horizontally with skin and all intact to form disk of exposed garlic.

Here is one more link to a great site that could tell you every thing you ever wanted to know about garlic, it's history, medicinal uses, pest control and more.