I was inspired to grow a little garlic after a visiting Mark at South West Garlic Farm last year. My garlic will never be as good as his and I won’t ever be planting the volume he does but I like the idea of my allotment being busy doing something over the winter.
Love garlic
A few tips on planting
It’s a really good time to get planting now. I’ve cleared all my courgettes, the bulk of my sorrel and my runner beans and so I have a perfect patch of land, different to last year to plant. It’s in maximum sunlight over the winter months which is important and most importantly I have enough space to leave about six inches between each clove. The chaps at the allotment hut told me to break the bulbs up before planting – no longer than 24 hours – and then they go into the soil about 4cm below the surface with the pointy end up.
My garlic crop before it went too rusty
Problems along the growing journey
Lots can grow wrong with garlic growing. Mark has spent 13 years figuring all this out. I have had the learnings of a season so here are a few things to beware of:
- Birds – Be sure also to make a few scarecrows as the birds will think the tip sticking out is a worm and then try to yank it out. This happened with a few of mine last year.
- Rust – these are small orange spots or blisters that appear on the leaves. It’s basically due to wind and not enough rain. So water, water and water during the dry patches.
- Eelworm – I had a few bulbs that had these little wrigglies inside. You can mitigate this by adding wrapping a little newspaper around the bulb according to one allotment neighbour. But I think this year I might be OK because they seem to prefer newly cultivated land and the patch I have planted on is not new.
- Onion Fly – Look for a thick neck on the plant. This is where the eggs are laid so when they hatch the little maggots bear down into the bulb and the plant collapses. Just pull it out as soon as possible.
Harvesting
Garlic will apparently tell you when it’s time to harvest. I think I went in too early panicking with the rust maybe but I did have a wonderful harvest.
My harvested garlic this summer
Small bulbs but so satisfying to pull it out of the ground and smell the proper, full bodied garlic smell. We tied ours together in a plait and have had it hanging on the kitchen door all summer.
An intense full bodied, earthy smell of garlic
Preserving the surplus
Of course you don’t need to grow garlic to make these preserves. You could just as easily buy some beautiful garlic from Mark and that would do the job nicely. But if you do have some spare and want two really easy recipes to try, these would be perfect.
Garlic and Chilli Paste
This really is the simplest recipe ever if you have a food processor or a Froothie. Just a few ingredients and you have a healthy paste to dollop into soups, curries or breads or use as a base for sandwiches or salad dressings alike. My grandfather had a medicinal teaspoon everyday and lived into his late eighties. Just click on the picture for the recipe.
Garlic and Chilli Paste
Another brilliant store cupboard preserve is confit garlic. The peeled bulbs are cooked ever so slowly in oil and they become silky soft and the garlic flavour seems to intensify even further. They are really great on fluffy jacket potatoes or sourdough toast.
Confit GarlicConfit Garlic With Rosemary
Notes
You'll need
To make it simply place the bulbs into a heavy bottomed saucepan or a cast iron frying pan and then cover with oil.
Then heat on a low flame for about an hour until the bulbs have completely softened. If the heat isn't low the bulbs will burn. You don't want this. You want them to slowly simmer away. There should barely be any bubbles on the oil.
When they are ready pour them and the oil into a sterilised jar and then add the rosemary to permeate through. Eat within a month.
Are you a fan of garlic? Do you have any growing tips to share? How do you preserve it?
Great that you had a lovely harvest despite the rust. Me too – it didn’t seem to affect the garlic. There’s something satisfying about harvesting your own garlic isn’t there, even if (like me) there’s not enough to last the year. Love your preserving ideas too.
Thank you. I can’t wait for my next harvest!
Have you tried fresh garlic? I noticed it for sale in one of my local shops, and pulled some of mine, it is delicious, ajo tierno. I don’t think I had any full grown ones left!
Do you mean wet garlic? If so yes! It’s so lovely. I will def pull up some next year
Not sure what wet garlic is, but basically it’s before the bulbs have set and dried, so could be the same. A bit like green onions not old ones?
Wet garlic, don’t you think tender garlic is so much prettier? , 😀
Yes exactly that. Delicious!
Lovely photos, and what a great harvest.
thank you 🙂
When I grew garlic some years ago, also on an allotment, I lost quite a bit through onion white rot. I presume you didn’t have that problem?
No I didnt. What does that look like?! I hope I don’t get it this year!
It was a long time ago but I believe the bulbs were partly rotted when I pulled them up. I seem to recall that soil either has the disease it or it doesn’t. It also affects onions and leeks.
Aaaah ok. My leeks have been fine so fingers crossed my soul is ok!
Not being much of a gardener it’s never occurred to me to grow my own – and I had no idea there was so much to it. But maybe I could squeeze a few of these in the garden next year. (If the beetroot this year give me confidence!)
The roots don’t go very deep so you could most certainly plant in containers!
This is so inspiring Urvashi. Your allotment looks like such a great little secret garden 🙂
Thank you. The little ones don’t like garlic overtly but they’ve enjoyed pulling it out and plaiting it.
Beautiful! I got to help out at my sister-in-law’s farm harvesting garlic this summer, and it was wonderful. We smelled like garlic for weeks and people stopped sitting next to us on the bus.
Ha! Ha! No way! Am glad I didn’t stink of garlic that much. Or maybe I dd and I just got used to the smell! Oh no
Those recipes look delicious. Now I’m regretting that we’ve just eaten the last of the home-grown garlic without doing something a little more experimental with it!
Thank you so much for your kind words :-). Now you can plan to grow more for experimenting next season.
Rust turned the leaves of my whole garlic crop orange this year… I’ll have to remember your advice, just in case we get a long spell of dry weather again. I love your preserving ideas – going to have a go at both of them.
Mark told me rust comes from wind and lack of water. It is hard with an allotment to try and go everyday to water -especially during holiday time too. I’m sure that’s when our rust developed as we were not here and it didn’t rain. Thanks for linking up to me in your gardener’s collective post x
Brilliant post – very interesting as always.
Thank you Jan x
I remember your garlic farm post very well and I am chuffed for you that you now have your own harvest! How exciting! Great tips and easy recipes. A well-rounded and beautiful to look at post, Urvashi. Thanks for sharing this with us. I wish I had a sunny winter space to grow garlic….
Thanks Kellie. Fingers crossed for harvest two!
Full of envy for your harvest of garlic… we never had much success with it on our allotment when we had it a few years back. Thanks for sharing your experiences, it’s a lovely bit of escapism on a friday night 🙂
Thanks Katie. We’re going to move it to a different spot this year so fingers crossed for another successful year.
I only got one last year but think I will pop some inbetween the onions already planted.
Hmmm I’m not sure that’s a good idea based on the comment above re onion fly?
I adore the stuff. My Polish grandma ate a raw clove a day and was very fit and healthy until she died at an old age. Love the pick of your harvested bulbs.
Thanks Sally. I think there is much to learn from Eastern European customs and the links to Indian culture. Our ancestors were from Georgia so I do wonder how much of our customs today are from Europe.
I love garlic and we will be planting some too. we did not have much luck with Onions but hoping a better turnout with the garlics in our first year as gardeners!
We’ve just got back from the allotment and planted up some more. It’ll be in a line down one side of the allotment so hopefully will get loads of sun over winter.