Garlic has been with us since Roman times – just visit any Italian restaurant to get an understanding of how central the flavour is to their dishes. At Glanbrydan (in West Wales) we love to use it in our own cooking as well as adding it to many of the fillings of the baked pasties and pies we sell.
As a child in the UK in the 1970s our home didn’t entertain garlic as an ingredient; my garlic initiation happened when we went to visit friends of my parents who were well travelled. I didn’t know it at the time but the wonderful smell that permeated their house was created by the addition of garlic to almost everything they cooked.
Garlic is also thought to help dogs keep the fleas away. We make up our dogs food so it’s easy to add a few cloves. A liver and garlic cake can also be made by gently cooking up some liver with chopped garlic and then whizzing it in the food processor. The liver should be shaped in little pots, kept in the fridge and fed to the dogs sparingly. It’s safe to say most dogs love it.
There is a great range of garlic bulbs in the gardening shops all ready to break up and pop in the ground. For any UK gardener garlic is a safe bet. We have lived in South Northamptonshire and in rural mid-Wales, both being areas where the hardy little bulbs flourish. The shop bought ones are not really suitable for growing on unless you know they have come out of the ground locally – only buy via a retailer such as a farmer’s market where they won’t have anything nasty sprayed on them to stop them deteriorating. I have tried to grow the shop bought ones over several years and always had disappointing results.
Garlic is best planted early to give it a long growing season. I like to get some in the ground in November followed
Read more on theunconventionalgardener.com