Garlic

Plant family

Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae)

Season Overview

Details

Light requirement

Sunny

Water requirement

Wet

Soil

Medium (loamy)

Nutrient requirement

Low

Seeding distance

10 cm

Row spacing

25 cm

Seeding depth

4 cm

Instructions

End of December

Harvesting

Description

Garlic is a perennial, frost-hardy bulbous plant that is cultivated as an annual or biennial. There are two different subspecies to distinguish. Hardneck (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) is the name given to garlic that forms a very hard stem in the middle with the cloves on the outside. This is also the "original garlic" from which the various varieties of today were bred. It is also sometimes known as winter garlic because it is very cold tolerant and is planted in the fall. It also needs the cold stimulus to go into mock bloom. It forms a bud at the end of the flower spike in which no seeds grow, but small incubating bulbs do. The shelf life is lower at about 4 to 6 months, but hardneck garlic is particularly aromatic and very diverse in flavor. Softneck garlic (Allium sativum L. var. sativum), on the other hand, only develops foliage and therefore has no hard stem in the middle. It is set in spring and also tends to be planted in warmer areas. Softneck garlic is somewhat milder in flavor and has a shelf life of about 10 to 12 months.

Growing tips

Garlic prefers loose, humus-rich soil without waterlogging in a sunny, open position. It grows best at mild temperatures (12-24°C), bulb formation is inhibited at temperatures above 30°C. Single toes or bulbs (bulblets) are planted. The bulbs are planted only about 2 cm deep into the soil. In hardneck varieties, you can also cut away the false flowers in some plants that all they put all the energy in their bulbs. And let only a few plants also form bulbils to put them back in the fall. Depending on the variety, the brood bulbs then form ready-made garlic bulbs or so-called rounds the next year. These can also be used or simply planted again next year, when they will also form the typical bulb. Harvesting takes place in July, as soon as the foliage has turned about 2/3 brownish.