I do like garlic, apart from the rust issue that beplagues everyone every year, it’s really rather neat. It doesn’t mind being planted when nothing else does in winter. It’s the first one out of the soil in spring and, down South, it’s the only fresh greenery you see in the garden during September (not counting overwintered vegies).
It’s one of the best value for money crops. It can get quite pricey at the supermarket and the homegrown stuff is a lot better anyway (larger and easier to peel), provided the planting bulbs were of good quality. I’m also thinking that garlic braids would make a good Xmas present. The braid from my last year’s printanor (softneck) crop was hanging in our kitchen for ages and looked quite festive.
This year I’m also growing a hardneck Russian Red garlic. These should produce even larger cloves. I think if I ever went into business as a grower, I would be a garlic grower (and would probably get sick of eating garlic pretty fast ;) )
Did I mention that I like garlic ;) The second photo below is of this year’s attempt at intercropping and spacing garlic (and shallots) to try and avoid rust. Instead of a dedicated garlic bed I’ve spaced garlic very wide to be interplanted with brassicas and beetroots (some with autumn crops and some yet to be interplanted this spring). Fingers crossed! Does anyone else grow garlic? What types do you grow?
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