Growing Great Garlic

Lee Senior looks at how to grow breathtaking garlic

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Love it or loathe it, garlic always provokes a reaction. As a teenager I used to loathe it, these days I love it!

Milder varieties of garlic are now very welcome in my kitchen garden including the intriguing Elephant garlic. Occasionally, I eat some of the milder cloves raw in salads, having harvested them in the green before the bulbs ripen after harvesting them deliberately slightly small before full maturity.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF GARLIC

Essentially there are two main types of garlic: 'hardneck' and 'softneck'. Both have different plus points.

• Hardneck garlic varieties are hardier than softneck varieties. However, if it's a longer storage life you are after then softneck types are the ones to go for.

• Softneck varieties don't have a tough, strong central stem (sometimes a weak, floppy one) and they are less prone to bolting. The cloves are smaller though more numerous and they are milder in flavour.

Generally hardneck varieties have a stronger flavour and the cloves are larger and less numerous. Conversely they do have a strong central stem.

My favourite softneck variety is 'Germidour'. It is well known and widely available to purchase. It has quite a mild flavour and is reliable. The variety 'Solent Wight' is another popular one.

My favourite hardneck variety is 'Extra Early Wight' which is ideal for Autumn planting. It is very early to mature and can be ready as early as the first week in June!

WHAT IS ELEPHANT GARLIC?

Interestingly, Elephant garlic is more closely related to leeks (also part of the allium clan) than true garlic. It isn't strictly speaking a garlic in the conventional sense.