Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
particular plant, so it's well worth devoting some tunnel space to it - especially
elephant garlic, which is very expensive in the shops.
Elephant garlic looks exactly like normal garlic but is absolutely enormous in
comparison: bulbs can weigh up to a kilo. However, its flavour is quite mild and
delicate. If added to cooking the taste is easily overwhelmed, so it is best added
at the very last minute for a gentle garlicky note. Elephant garlic can be added
raw to salads, but is delicious baked whole in its skin: the tip of a clove can then
be nipped off and the contents squeezed on to a plate as a delicious paste.
Preparation
Garlic of all kinds likes light, well-drained and moderately fertile soil in full sun.
Some types of garlic are hardier than others, so if you are planting in November
(the best bet for really big bulbs), choose an overwintering variety.
Sowing
Garlic prefers an early start, so try to plant cloves in early November for overwinter-
ing, or in mid-February.
If you don't manage to plant them in November, hardy varieties can be planted
throughout the winter and into early spring. Planting a few in the tunnel in
January or February should still give you a good harvest, so long as the weather
is cold enough for root development.
Growing
Elephant garlic needs a period of roughly a month at temperatures below 10°C to
develop a sound root structure. If this doesn't happen, the plant is more likely to
grow into a single, huge bulb (known as a 'round') rather than a proper head
made up of cloves. If this happens it's not a complete disaster, as if you plant the
round the following year you will get a really big head made up of huge cloves.
'Normal' garlic should be planted at 10cm apart each way; elephant garlic at
20cm. For both varieties, plant so that just the tip of each clove is showing above
the soil. Use a trowel - don't just push them into the earth as this will compact
the soil underneath them, just where the roots will be trying to grow. Give a
sprinkling of bonemeal after planting, and water with comfrey tea once a week
(see Chapter 11, page 178). When the bulbs start to swell, water with a liquid
tomato feed instead until the leaves begin to die back, at which time watering
should gradually taper off (see below).
If any flower stalks (or 'scapes') appear, remove them immediately, or the energy
of the plant will go towards developing the flower instead of the cloves. Scapes
emerge from the centre of the plant, grow quickly, and have a distinctive pointed
'cap' that will eventually become the flower if left alone. Garlic scapes are delicious,
