Growing Gourmet Garlic, Part 2: Choosing Which Bulbs to Plant

Reader Contribution by Andrea Cross
1 / 2
2 / 2

Once you have decided which gourmet garlic cultivars you will grow, and how much, you can begin to reserve your planting stock. The same principles apply whether you grow garlic for sale or simply for your own use. The general rule is to save back the largest, most robust bulbs for your seed stock. You will not be guaranteed exclusively large bulbs next harvest, but there does appear to be a positive correlation between the relative size of the seed clove and the resulting plant, especially with hardneck varieties.

If you are curious about this relationship in regards to your particular cultivar, separate cloves based on size before planting. Plant the different size categories of cloves in clearly marked sections of your field or garden and when you harvest, compare the average size of the bulbs from each section to determine whether initial clove size made a significant difference. I have separated cloves for several of our hardneck cultivars this way, and have indeed noticed a difference in size at harvest.

When you have a limited amount of seed or you want to expand your stock significantly, plant every healthy clove you have. Even if clove size is a factor in producing large garlic bulbs, it is a single factor. Other factors, including irrigation, weeding, fertilizing, and mulching can also considerably increase your yield and are easier to control. Softneck varieties in particular contain a number of smaller cloves that are just as viable to plant as the larger ones, often producing bulbs of a respectable size at harvest. Planting every available clove is especially relevant if you are purchasing your seed, due to the limited number of bulbs you are likely to have available.

Bulbils, as mentioned in my previous blog (Gourmet Garlic Growing: Planting Part 1 – Where to Get Seed and How Much to Plant) are also a viable option for stock, although they require two to five years to produce full bulbs. The sizes and number of bulbils produced in the umbel varies between cultivars; this influences the time required to produce a full bulb. Asiatic varieties, for example, produce a small number of very large bulbils which often produce a fully differentiated bulb in two years. Conversely, Rocambole cultivars produce many tiny bulbils. Planting these bulbils is a great option to significantly increase your stock, but it will take three to five years before the bulbs are mature.

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368