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Publication Date: Friday, October 05, 2001

Gourmet Garlic Grows in Mountain View

By Marcia Fein

The ribs have come off the grill and a dozen friends begin to add the smoky morsels to their plates. I head back to the glowing coals with a basket of foil packets and tuck them in around the edges. "What's that?" our hostess asks. "Dessert," I say.
When the homemade breads, salads and ribs are gone, I pull the packets out of the heat and pass them around, one by one. Roasted garlic is mellow, silky, perfumed. The first is Susanville, a selection of California Early. The head and cloves are large; the taste, mild and nutty. The second holds Inchelium Red, a huge rosy head from the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. The cloves are sweet and buttery. Then I bring on the prima donnas, the hardnecked rocamboles, porcelains, and purple stripes. Talk about flavor! I present Music-a huge head with a medium hot, lingering taste, Georgian Crystal-pure white with a rich, mild taste, and Rosewood-a pink-brown, long storing head with complex flavor. No one asks for cake.
Do you want some for your dinner table? To enjoy these delicacies you have to grow your own. Try several varieties to see which ones you like then save the best heads for replanting. Over time some varieties will acclimate to your garden and become increasingly productive. Now is the time to start!
Varieties and growing conditions As a rule the softneck types are more tolerant of a wide variety of growing conditions than the hardneck types. Of softnecks, the sub-group "artichoke" is very adaptable and some are really tasty. Among the more refined and finicky hardneck (ophio) types, the easiest to grow here are those requiring the least winter chill.
Getting started Where will you plant it? Garlic wants full sun and the best soil you can provide. Since it grows during our cool, rainy season, consider winter shade patterns and good drainage. Before winter rains begin, turn the moist soil a foot deep and incorporate enough compost to keep it loose. Ideally, build a raised bed. To reduce problems with fungal disease, do not plant where any alliums (onion family) grew in the last three years.
Select the seed stock. It is best to start with disease free stock from a reputable grower. The biggest cloves from the biggest heads will produce the biggest garlic. Do not use a head with even one rotten clove because fungal spores could be present. Do not plant any clove that is soft, bruised, or has a damaged basal plate (rooting area). It is best not to plant garlic from the grocery store because it usually has been treated to delay sprouting.
Planting The best time to plant garlic in Mountain View is October/November. Early planting provides more growing time to produce bigger heads. It is all right to plant in December/January if the soil is not too wet. Ophio garlic will benefit most from early planting.
Make a plan of the garlic bed showing what is to be planted where and label a stake for each variety. You will want to be able to identify each variety from now through harvest. Locate varieties of the same type together because they have similar cultural requirements.
Keep the head whole until just before you plant. Remove the bulb wrappers gently then "pop" the cloves away from the base. Be gentle; avoid injuring the clove or its wrapper. The clove will feed root development first, and then the shoot.
Incorporate about half of the total fertilizer needed for the crop into the top 8 or 9 inches of soil. My double-dug, well composted, 36 square foot bed gets about 16 cups of alfalfa meal or 5 cups of soy meal. You may need more or less. Garlic roots 4 to 8 inches deep, and the plant will need additional nutrition in spring.
Unless you have the fluffiest, richest soil, garlic cloves should be set six by ten or twelve inches apart. Varieties that produce a larger head (e.g. artichokes) benefit from more room to expand. The smaller ophois can be set as close as four inches apart. If you are planting small cloves for "green garlic," harvested young before cloves form, one by two inches is fine.
Make a hole for each clove about two inches deep. Place the blunt end of the clove at the bottom and cover with loose soil. When all are planted, firm the bed gently with the back of a rake or your hands, and water gently.
Here are some good sources of seed garlic: Common Ground Garden Supply 559 College Avenue Palo Alto, CA (650) 328-6752 5 varieties
Irish Eyes with a Hint of Garlic P.O. Box 307 Ellensburg, WA 98926 (509) 925-6025 www.irish-eyes.com 12 varieties
Territorial Seed Company P.O. Box 158 Cottage Grove, OR 97424-0061 (541) 942-9547 www.territorialseed.com 24 varieties
Glacier Gourmet Garlic 1488 Helena Flats Road Kalispell, MT 59901 (406) 756-1411 garlicgourmet.com 50 varieties
Filaree Farm 182 Conconully Hwy Okanogan, WA 98840 (509) 422-6940 www.filareefarm.com 140 varieties

Gourmet Garlic Grows in Mountain View

The ribs have come off the grill and a dozen friends begin to add the smoky morsels to their plates. I head back to the glowing coals with a basket of foil packets and tuck them in around the edges. "What's that?" our hostess asks. "Dessert," I say.
When the homemade breads, salads and ribs are gone, I pull the packets out of the heat and pass them around, one by one. Roasted garlic is mellow, silky, perfumed. The first is Susanville, a selection of California Early. The head and cloves are large; the taste, mild and nutty. The second holds Inchelium Red, a huge rosy head from the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington. The cloves are sweet and buttery. Then I bring on the prima donnas, the hardnecked rocamboles, porcelains, and purple stripes. Talk about flavor! I present Music-a huge head with a medium hot, lingering taste, Georgian Crystal-pure white with a rich, mild taste, and Rosewood-a pink-brown, long storing head with complex flavor. No one asks for cake.
Do you want some for your dinner table? To enjoy these delicacies you have to grow your own. Try several varieties to see which ones you like then save the best heads for replanting. Over time some varieties will acclimate to your garden and become increasingly productive. Now is the time to start!
Varieties and growing conditions As a rule the softneck types are more tolerant of a wide variety of growing conditions than the hardneck types. Of softnecks, the sub-group "artichoke" is very adaptable and some are really tasty. Among the more refined and finicky hardneck (ophio) types, the easiest to grow here are those requiring the least winter chill.
Getting started Where will you plant it? Garlic wants full sun and the best soil you can provide. Since it grows during our cool, rainy season, consider winter shade patterns and good drainage. Before winter rains begin, turn the moist soil a foot deep and incorporate enough compost to keep it loose. Ideally, build a raised bed. To reduce problems with fungal disease, do not plant where any alliums (onion family) grew in the last three years.
Select the seed stock. It is best to start with disease free stock from a reputable grower. The biggest cloves from the biggest heads will produce the biggest garlic. Do not use a head with even one rotten clove because fungal spores could be present. Do not plant any clove that is soft, bruised, or has a damaged basal plate (rooting area). It is best not to plant garlic from the grocery store because it usually has been treated to delay sprouting.
Planting The best time to plant garlic in Mountain View is October/November. Early planting provides more growing time to produce bigger heads. It is all right to plant in December/January if the soil is not too wet. Ophio garlic will benefit most from early planting.
Make a plan of the garlic bed showing what is to be planted where and label a stake for each variety. You will want to be able to identify each variety from now through harvest. Locate varieties of the same type together because they have similar cultural requirements.
Keep the head whole until just before you plant. Remove the bulb wrappers gently then "pop" the cloves away from the base. Be gentle; avoid injuring the clove or its wrapper. The clove will feed root development first, and then the shoot.
Incorporate about half of the total fertilizer needed for the crop into the top 8 or 9 inches of soil. My double-dug, well composted, 36 square foot bed gets about 16 cups of alfalfa meal or 5 cups of soy meal. You may need more or less. Garlic roots 4 to 8 inches deep, and the plant will need additional nutrition in spring.
Unless you have the fluffiest, richest soil, garlic cloves should be set six by ten or twelve inches apart. Varieties that produce a larger head (e.g. artichokes) benefit from more room to expand. The smaller ophois can be set as close as four inches apart. If you are planting small cloves for "green garlic," harvested young before cloves form, one by two inches is fine.
Make a hole for each clove about two inches deep. Place the blunt end of the clove at the bottom and cover with loose soil. When all are planted, firm the bed gently with the back of a rake or your hands, and water gently.
Here are some good sources of seed garlic: Common Ground Garden Supply 559 College Avenue Palo Alto, CA (650) 328-6752 5 varieties
Irish Eyes with a Hint of Garlic P.O. Box 307 Ellensburg, WA 98926 (509) 925-6025 www.irish-eyes.com 12 varieties
Territorial Seed Company P.O. Box 158 Cottage Grove, OR 97424-0061 (541) 942-9547 www.territorialseed.com 24 varieties
Glacier Gourmet Garlic 1488 Helena Flats Road Kalispell, MT 59901 (406) 756-1411 garlicgourmet.com 50 varieties
Filaree Farm 182 Conconully Hwy Okanogan, WA 98840 (509) 422-6940 www.filareefarm.com 140 varieties
Marcia Fein, a UCCE trained Master Gardener, has been growing flowers, fruit and vegetables in Mountain View since 1979.