Home-grown garlic takes up little space and requires hardly any effort to get a good crop. It’s an easy crop to grow, spouting from a garlic bulb separated into cloves, which you plant individually. Certified, disease-free garlic bulbs are sold at garden centres or online.
There are two types of garlic to grow: softneck garlic and hardneck garlic.
Softneck varieties
The most common garlic type in supermarkets. Softnecks provide the greatest number of cloves per bulb – up to 18. They have a white, papery skin, store well and rarely bolt (produce a flower stalk). However, softneck garlic is less tolerant of prolonged cold temperatures and is therefore best suited to growing in milder southern counties in the UK, although it can be grown elsewhere with winter protection.
Hardneck varieties
Hardneck garlic has fewer cloves per bulb – usually 10 or less. They are generally hardier than softneck types and can be grown throughout the UK. Hardneck types will often produce a curling flower stalk or ‘scape’. This straightens out as it matures, to carry a head of tiny clove-like bulbils. It is best to remove the scape as soon as it appears (use it in stir fries) so the plant diverts its energies into producing a larger bulb. If left to develop on the plants, you can harvest and plant the bulbils, but it may take up to three years to form a decent bulb.
There’s also elephant garlic, which bears giant, mild-flavoured bulbs, which you can grow for a lighter garlic taste.
Growing garlicGrow garlic in a warm, sunny spot, in fertile, well-drained soil that doesn’t get too wet in winter. Always buy bulbs at the garden centre or order from a seed supplier – don’t use bulbs from the supermarket. Break up the bulbs into separate cloves and
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