Enjoy home-grown garlic flavor year-round by growing this crop as a perennial
October think Allium sativum - establish time here in the Mid - Atlantic . Normally , grow Allium sativum is a long - term prospect , as you wo n’t get to harvest the barbed lightbulb until the undermentioned summer . But there ’s a way you could enjoy season after season of fresh garlic savor from just one planting : by growing it as a perennial or else of an annual crop .
There ’s no big modification to make from a growing view — just plant your hardneck garlic in October as you normally would , in a sunny , well - drained stain , with the individual cloves spaced about 3 inches apart and 2 inches deep . It ’s common for capitulation - planted ail to farm some leaf before winter , then terminate growing during December into February . It will nibble up again when the cold eases and continue to farm through former summer , when blossoming stalks will appear . Normally , you ’d clip off those emerging still hunt to get the bombastic bulbs possible , then dig up the medulla in July or August for a single main harvest time .
The harvest cycle for perennial garlic is much dissimilar . you may begin peck the flavorful leaves as soon as they start grow in outpouring , go on as long as they are untoughened ( unremarkably into June ) , and then come out again once increment resumes in September or October . Use the greens as you would chives in salad or cookery , or conflate them with ( or utilize them in place of ) basil to make a delicious pesto .
Instead of prune off and composting the issue garlic flower stalk , tolerate them to develop . They ’re still tender in their curly microscope stage and sample swell when chop into hustle - youngster or other dish . Leave some of the stalk to spring up on the plants , and they ’ll straighten up and produce pocket-size bulblets at the top in late summertime . Use the bulblets as you would “ regular ” ail — cook with them , scatter them around the existing plant to thicken the patch , or plant them in a young area to start another patch .
As the tops of your repeated garlic kick the bucket down , you’re able to dig up a few bulbs in August and September . They ’re very minuscule , in general , but you may usually discover some that are self-aggrandizing enough to peel and cook with . If it ’s important to you to have a good provision of large cloves for cookery , design on having a disjoined crop of ail that you grow the usual way of life . Do give the recurrent approach a try , though ; it ’s a wondrous style to enjoy capital garlic flavor much year - orotund .
Nancy J. Ondra is the writer of over fifteen books , includingGrasses , The Perennial Care Manual , andThe Perennial Matchmaker .
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Garlic greens in early fall.Photo: Nancy J. Ondra
Enjoy the quirky curves of garlic scapes in the early summer garden, in the kitchen, or in flower arrangements.Photo: Nancy J. Ondra
Hardneck garlic produces a few flowers but mostly bulblets atop the stems in July and August. Peel them for cooking, or save them for planting.Photos: Nancy J. Ondra
