Glut the fourth - Garlic

 

Glut the fourth - Garlic     

Love a little garlic as it does the one thing in the green house (in partnership with the lemon grass and basil) I really like. Every year a few corms in between plants, a trough of lemon grass and a pot of basil seems to deter the little green and white flies that bug me and my vegetable wards in the greenhouse. Doesn’t stop all of them but some bugs are definitely thinking twice. Garlic is great in food but a gardener’s friend in more ways than one. It can also make a useful little spray – if you want to try it see the recipe card. I do like the smelly trinity though – seems effective.

Garlic is also so easy to grow and will keep coming up but this year not so much.  Although I plant through the year but early planting sometimes fails but it’s something to do with any we end up buying that have little corms not worth cooking with. Those that did grow well this year came from the troughs I’d moved outside and left after they seemed to fail in the greenhouse. They got watered intermittently and the corms grew again and seem to be thriving. The great thing about this glut cook thing – there is always something to learn and try again.

I’m going to leave them over the winter, in the greenhouse (unheated) and I’m hoping for an early start next year. This means I have to think about the critical critter problem – there always seems to be a mouse or something small and furry after my corms.  There needs to be something protecting them and I’ve gone for an age-old approach – a protective box. The top of my propagators that cover the trough so no critters can get at them. So two lessons learned - leave them in the compost with low harvest and use protection.

Get the glut going.

  • You can over winter and let them start growing early. Keeping them in a pot of compost in a sheltered place seems to work well. I’ve even tried them in posts vacated by tomato plants. Worked with varying degrees of success but I can’t decide if that is due to low temperatures.
  • I use the small corms from value supermarket garlics we buy when we have to and the ones that start sprouting are used to inter plant in greenhouse – these seem to grow well and this year I’ve decided to use them as my insect deterrent in pots among my plants.
  • A little find has been a small root of wild garlic I was given. It is slow to get started but I’m getting leaves in the garden at an early stage. It’s a more subtle flavour and I’m operating a simple forage- only taking a few leaves as the patch slowly develops. A concrete base to a fence post knocked things back so I’m guessing they do not like cement! (Not over them but by them with the dust washing over the soil.
  • As an intercrop between things like tomatoes, peppers, and brassicas they seem to do fine. I also have been known to ring a bed in garlic on occasion. I’m told it can act at protection form various infestations but no evidence one way or another so far.

Getting to the Crop




The crop depends on the type but there are some I like:

  • There are different types of garlic and I have always grown form a corm – one year trying an elephant garlic as an experiment really worked well. Plant in the spring with a little protection from the frosts they soon sprouted. The drought this year probably affected things, so I did start mulching during the growing season and it seemed to help. Just not enough time for my corms to plump up.
  • I tend to keep planting corms as I get some leftovers in the kitchen throughout the year and harvest as green garlic as well as waiting for the leaves to die back before harvesting. Just keep varying things to see how and which thrives best, but watering is key.
  • You can let garlic flower if you want to play with the seeds. Some do, some don’t.

What to do with the glut

  • Use the green garlic stems for an early flavouring – works well and has a nice subtlety to it.
  • Try peeling and blanching the small corms before putting brine or oil. Over time they can dissolve into the brine making a nice mush – see the recipe card.
  • Keeping them dry and in a cool place once the leaves have fallen back and dried. If we get really wet, I use a wire rack in the shed before platting the leaved.
  • The little we did get this year though did do great in the smoker and we have some to infuse in oil.
  • Make an insect repelling spray – see the recipe card.

 

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