Cultivating Garlic and Elephant Garlic

The trick - as with all garlic is to plant by the end of November so that it forms a good root system before the winter. It will then stand at least 10 degrees of frost. As with other long dormancy species, however, it can be planted later, up to mid January at the latest, if frost permits. Nonetheless, I put mine in during November. It needs plenty of phosphate before planting, a little nitrogen in March to develop the leaves and help it photosynthesise and plenty of potash thereafter

Late Planting Garlic

If you need to plant small quantities later than January, the early root system can be enhanced by a form of chitting. Half fill a cardboard toilet roll tube with damp compost and set a clove on top. Stand the tubes indoors on capillary matting for a week or two, so that the roots start into growth. Once the roots emerge from the bottom plant the clove, tube and all, as soon as soil conditions permit.

Dormancy

The vital thing to remember is that all garlic needs at least a month in soil which is constantly below 10°C once its roots have developed. If it does not have this period of low temperature it will probably not form cloves, but form what the trade calls a round - a single bulb like a small onion. If rounds are lifted in July or August, dried off and then replanted in October they will form extra large heads (and cloves) in the following summer. This is a technique used by showmen.

I plant all types of garlic, including elephant, with the tips of the cloves 1 -2 inches (3-5 cm) below the surface. In the growing season it is important to nip off flower buds as soon as they form as all the food and energy must go into the bulb.

Almost always I get six cloves from elephant, usually weighing about 2 ounces apiece. When I do not, it is only because one or two of the cloves are so immature they can hardly be seen, but they are still there. Their immaturity is probably due to bad husbandry. Heads without six fully formed cloves I use for the table, never for replanting.

Elephant garlic sprouts small bulbils on the cloves or on the leaf bases, usually at least three per head. If these become detached from the parent bulb and left in situ they develop into rounds. (If, however, bulbils form at the leaf tips it is not elephant garlic, but Babington's Leek, which some growers mistakenly offer as elephant.)

I take these bulbils off as soon as the plants are set to dry after harvesting in summer, check that there are no small brown spots, a sure sign of virus infection, soak them in fungicide for five minutes and replant them immediately into Fyba growpots. In late October or early November they are planted out, along with my cloves, to develop into rounds the following summer. If the bulbils are not repotted immediately, they tend to dry out and form a hard scaly skin. If they do, remove the outer layer of skin gently, it helps to clip the pointed end with a pair of nail scissors to get a purchase, soak them in fungicide again and plant in pots.

As I noted earlier, I believe elephant garlic is a cash crop for the future - so professional growers may care to note:

1. Spaced 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) apart in rows 1 foot (30 cm) apart, a quarter acre will need 1500 cloves, about 120lb. (Probable autumn 1995 cost about £525.)
2. Estimated yield, if well cultivated, about 2 short tons.
3. A premium price can be obtained for organically grown crops. For best results, mulch with Russian comfrey leaves, the best organic source of potash, from May onwards.

Two points to bear in mind when growing garlic

The best crop will be produced on light, friable, well drained soil in full sun.

When planting ordinary garlic plant only the outer cloves from each head. Those cloves, that is, with one rounded and one flat side, the inner cloves, which are square or triangular in section, should be used in the kitchen.

See Garlic & Elephant Garlic Part 1

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