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A Lesson on Garlic Growing on the South West Garlic Farm

17th July 2013 By Urvashi Roe Leave a Comment

I came across the South West Garlic Farm on Twitter about a year ago.  I was fascinated by their beautiful images of garlic at various stages of growth. We’ve been in touch ever since and on my recent trip to the beautiful southern coastline of Britain, I popped in to meet farmer and owner Mark Botwright, and learn first hand how, from just three elephant garlic cloves planted sixteen years ago, he has grown South West Garlic Farm to be one of the UK’s top garlic producers.

An iterative learning process for an ambition to the the best

Its taken Mark sixteen years to develop the knowledge he has on garlic growing. Curious to see what what happen when he planted some garlic bought on holiday, he started growing some at home as a hobby. Now he’s renting acres of land to develop this hobby into a business that will see him become the UK’s largest producer of garlic, growing a million bulbs and more in the next three years.

garlic, south west garlic farm, mark botwright

Mark Botwright of South West Garlic Farm

He’s very laid back but its completely clear as he starts talking, that he knows exactly what he’s doing and why. His fields are all quite high up and this is not just for the glorious views.  The elevated position keeps the plants exposed to wind and thus more likely to be disease free.

garlic, planted garlic

Elevated fields of garlic in Dorset

He plants directly into the soil six inches apart to allow air to move freely around each bulb as it develops and make it easier for weeds to be pulled out. There are no fertilisers or sprays used on the farm and everything is currently smashed out the old fashioned way with a hoe. I found this utterly amazing considering the neat rows before me.

garlic

Neatly planted rows of garlic

Three core products all lovingly and manually tended to

Mark cultivates three core products from the following varieties of garlic.

  • Elephant Garlic – cricket ball sized bulbs bursting with cloves approx an inch and a half long and three quarters of an inch thick.  A mild and earthy taste.
  • Morado and Iberian Garlic from Spain which has a strong flavour and purply brown cloves.
  • Laba Garlic which  a green vinegar preserved garlic with a sour and slightly spicy taste.
  • Violet Spring Garlic from South America which has a beautiful purple haze on the bulb but the deeper you plant it the whiter it becomes. It has a rounded garlic flavour with no harshness.
garlic

Garlic shooting out of the ground

Scapes 

Scapes are the first products from the planted bulbs. I had not heard of them til my recent visit to the US. They are the long, leafless flowering stem that grows out of the bulb and would flower if left to grow.

garlic scape

Garlic Scape

Each one is pulled out carefully by hand.  Mark made it look very easy. I had a go and found it incredibly therapeutic. But, on a gloriously sunny day in the heart of the Dorset countryside I guess it would be.

garlic scapes, mark botwright

Mark demonstrates how to harvest garlic scapes

All the garlic varieties that Mark has planted yield scapes.  I didn’t know what to expect. I thought they’d be pungent, like fresh spring onions, but the taste was very subtle – almost like wild garlic leaves.  My daughter described them as garlicky green beans. We ate them simply grilled and then drizzled with olive oil, lemon and sea salt…

garlic scapes

Griddled Garlic Scapes with Olive Oil, Lemon and Sea Salt

and in a Focaccia. The Elephant Garlic Scapes were the most flavourful.

garlic scapes, focaccia

Garlic and Scape Focaccia

Wet Garlic

The very first garlic crop of the season is known as “wet” garlic because it has not been hung up to dry.  It has to be picked by hand.  When the bulb starts to grow a stem, Mark picks half the crop and sells this as wet garlic saving the rest for drying.

The texture is quite different from dried garlic.  The internal skins haven’t formed so you can chop and use the whole head as a seasoning.  The huge cloves give a creamy flavour which is strong, but not bitter.

We added this into Linguine with Scapes, Dorset Crab, Lemon and Chilli…

garlic scapes

Linguine with Scapes, Dorset Crab, Lemon and Chilli

Dry Garlic

The rest of the garlic crop is left in the ground for four weeks longer is used as seed for the next crop and for selling as the dry garlic we all know and love.

garlic

Dry Garlic

I’ll never think about garlic the same way again

I don’t think I’ll ever think about garlic the same way again after seeing the work that goes into growing it. I started reflecting on how much I take this store cupboard ingredient for granted. I thought about how I am sometimes too flippant with throwing it in to recipes without really thinking how to get the best flavour out and indeed which of the different types to use.  I’ve had different varieties before but not sought them out proactively so I’ll be making a more conscious effort to do this.

Do you like garlic? Do you grow garlic? What’s your go to garlic dish? 

Related articles
  • South West Garlic Farm – My Flickr Collection
  • Garlic scapes are just as flavourful as the bulbs they grow on (theglobeandmail.com)
  • Growing Garlic…. July garden update (cassandramadge.com)
  • What to do with Garlic Scapes & Green Garlic (falllinefarms.com)
  • Exciting Garlic News (charliehicks.com)

Related

Filed Under: Travels Tagged With: Elephant garlic, Garlic, Mark Botwright, South West Garlic Farm

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Comments

  1. Sarah says

    17th July 2013 at 1:11 pm

    My garlic has been badly hit by rust this year – but I’m hoping the bulbs will be ok. We like garlic cooked with cannellini beans, salt and olive oil, sometimes with some rosemary added, other times with olives… very good with pasta or crusty bread!

    Reply
    • Urvashi Roe says

      17th July 2013 at 1:26 pm

      Those sounds lovely!

      Reply
  2. kellie@foodtoglow says

    17th July 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Fantastic piece Urvashi! Really very interesting. I left the US before all the hullaballo about scapes so I too wondered quite what bit of garlic are the scapes, or if indeed they are a different but closely related plant. Now I know! I love how you have incorporated them into recipes where you might already use garlic. The focaccia looks especially beautiful. Your man sounds a real find too. Had no idea that garlic needed so much space, and that wind would help to keep them disease-free. I have tried growing garlic from just some supermarket cloves but I understand that most supermarket-bound garlic are now treated/manipulated in some way and would be unlikely to grow in a home garden. Anyhoo, I want to share a quick link about how to get the best nutrition from any garlic you use. Basically it’s best to chop it and let it sit a bit so that one of the sulphur compounds (alliin) turns into a kind of super compound (alliicin). Then one can cook it (but not too long) and reap the benefits. Here it is: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=136. Hope you don’t mind ;D

    Reply
    • Urvashi Roe says

      17th July 2013 at 5:41 pm

      Thanks Kellie. Great link and ties right into what I usually include in my posts! Xx

      Reply
  3. karin@yumandmore says

    18th July 2013 at 6:46 pm

    Great post Urvashi! the food looks yummy too!

    Reply
    • Urvashi Roe says

      18th July 2013 at 7:11 pm

      Thanks Karin x

      Reply
  4. marycheshier says

    13th September 2013 at 4:07 pm

    Reblogged this on How 2 Be Green and commented:
    Great article! Thanks

    Reply
    • Urvashi Roe says

      14th September 2013 at 12:12 pm

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply
      • marycheshier says

        2nd October 2013 at 3:44 am

        You are welcome. 🙂

        Reply
  5. Lean Protein says

    22nd September 2013 at 12:59 am

    Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted
    to say that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your blog posts.

    After all I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again very soon!

    Reply
    • Urvashi Roe says

      22nd September 2013 at 9:31 am

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply

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Hi I'm Urvashi!

I love food. This blog is a little glimpse into my foodie world which is an escape from two teenage girls, a busy job and my little cafe.

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