Grey Duck Garlic, tips to grow garlic

How to Grow the Best Gourmet Garlic

We won’t whitewash it; growing organic garlic can be work! Let’s face it, if it were easy it wouldn’t be worth $12-$24 a pound. With a little effort and some preparation, however, you can grow gourmet garlic for top chefs, high end restaurants, CSA’s, Farmer’s Markets or yourself. These markets can offer you the best prices for your crop. See our ‘grow organic garlic page’ for some basic techniques and look over these tips to grow superior garlic.

Ten Tips for Growing the Biggest and Best Tasting Garlic

1) Good quality seed garlic:

Start with good quality seed garlic free from disease.
Start with BIG cloves. The larger the clove, the larger the garlic bulbs it produces. We plant our largest cloves each year and are rewarded with huge garlic plants and bulbs. Susan can walk down each row and tell what size clove was planted by the size of the garlic stems (and resulting bulbs).
Larger cloves are more resistant to adverse conditions and frost. The larger clove has more reserves and can outlast bad weather.

2) Prepare soil well:

Soil should be loose, loamy and easy to dig. Garlic needs well drained soil or it will rot.

Add manure or compost before fall planting. Our garlic grows the largest in the area that has been amended to 13% organic matter (using a mix of horse manure in sawdust and cow manure). German Red especially likes rich soil. The rest of our fields is around 6% organic matter.

Take a soil test to check for major and minor nutrients. Garlic normally needs extra nitrogen (bloodmeal is a good organic source of nitrogen). Supplement with nitrogen after planting and several times during the growing season. Stop nitrogen supplementation before garlic scapes in late spring or early summer. Too much nitrogen at this time can cause excess leaf growth at the expense of bulb growth.

3) Space garlic cloves:

For the biggest garlic, space cloves about 6 inches to 8 inches apart. We space our rows 8 inches apart and space the garlic 6 inches apart within each row. This gives the garlic room to grow.

4) Mulch gourmet garlic well:

Mulching protects from winter weather, help prevent weeds, conserve moisture and keep the soil cool longer. Garlic likes cool soil.

5) Take precautions based on your climate:

See our Southern Garlic Grower’s Guide for a whole page on growing garlic in the South.

Tips for Northern Growers:
Hardneck garlic does best in the North but needs to be protected against temperature extremes. Make sure to plant deep (6 inch deep hole) and mulch well with fluffy straw or wood chips. Fluff up straw to make sure it does make dense mats on the ground which can prevent garlic from emerging. Plant several weeks after the first killing frost (we plant near the end of October).

You can grow all the hardneck varieties if they are protected during the winter. Thermadrone and other softnecks are the most ‘iffy’ in really cold climates.

6) Don’t forget to weed:

Garlic yield can be reduced by over half due to weeds! When we first started raising garlic a small portion of the field got away from us and resulted in a weed tangle. Those were the smallest bulbs I have ever seen. It only took once to learn our lesson. Mulching can help prevent weeds.

7) Remove scapes or garlic false seedheads:

Garlic produces a false seedhead called a scape on a long flower stalk. Scapes will develop into small bulblets. Cut off scapes when they first appear and curl. Scapes can be sold at Farmer’s Markets and to chefs. They are considered a culinary delicacy. Removing the scapes may result in bigger bulbs.

8) Harvest at the right time:

Hardneck garlic should be harvest when approximately one third to one half the leaves are brown. Softneck garlic should be harvested when the bottom leaves begin turning brown or the garlic falls over. Harvest too early and the garlic will not have formed wrappers around the cloves yet. Harvest too late and the wrappers on the outside of the bulb will degenerate and bulb quality and keeping ability will be poor.

9) Protect garlic from the sun.

Hardneck garlic can get sunburned so place it in a shady area as you harvest. Make sure to cure garlic in a shady area.

10) Cure garlic for the best taste and keeping qualities.

Cure garlic in a dry, cool area out of direct sunlight for 4-6 weeks. The garlic will become lighter as it dries and its flavors will mellow and develop. Garlic straight from the field has a green flavor. After curing, store garlic at 50 F, with 55-65% humidity.

Garlic consumption has soared in the United States. People are eager to try gourmet garlic varieties.

There is more to garlic than bulbs. Gourmet garlic can be sold throughout the season in Farmer’s Markets and to upscale restaurants and chefs. You may want to sell garlic as:

Garlic greens: young tender garlic leaves which can be sold in late winter and early spring. Plants are planted 4 inches apart, harvested at ground level when leaves are 8-10 inch high, bunched (2” across at base), banded, and rinsed. Selected leaves should be tender. The plants will regrow new leaves up to two additional times.

Green scallions or green garlic: young immature garlic plants with no bulb, very popular in Asian dishes and with chefs. This is a good way to use smaller cloves. Small cloves are planted 2-4 inches apart in either fall or spring. An easy way to plant is to dig a 4-6 inch deep trench, place garlic cloves right side up 2-4 inches apart in the trench and carefully cover with soil. We recommend fall planting for the healthiest plants. Green scallion garlic should be harvested when the plant is around 10-15 inches high above ground. The entire plant should be dug or pulled, an outer leaf or two peeled down and off, and the plant rinsed clean. Roots should be rinsed free of dirt and trimmed to ¼-½ inch. Often scallions are sold in a banded bunch of 6-12 plants, similar to green onions. A scallion should have no bulbing at the base, since this makes the plant tough.

Scapes: the false seedhead, cut off when it begins to curl. Great for stirfries and Italian dishes. This is a cult classic in many Farmer’s Markets. Some people really love garlic scapes and wait all year for them. Scapes should be cut from the plant when tender and curled. Gourmet garlic has a wide variety of scapes and the size of the scape will depend on the plant variety. Harvest soon after scapes emerge and curl. You don’t want old tough scapes that are straight and flowering. Once cut, scapes should be rinsed, drained, bagged, and refrigerated.

Bulbs: the traditional way to sell garlic. Once people taste the difference gourmet garlic makes they will be asking for more. At Grey Duck Garlic we have a strong following of people who get hooked on the delicious taste of gourmet garlic.

A good marketing strategy is to offer garlic samples (greens, scallions, scapes and bulbs) to restaurants and chefs. We have found that the wonderful flavor of this garlic pretty well sells itself. The key to satisfied consumers is to always supply people with the best quality garlic and to treat them with courtesy and respect.

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