Garlic

GARLIC is a close relative of the onion, leek and shallot. This bulb based plant is planted in the Fall, Mild Winter or very Early Spring depending on which zone you happen to be located in.

How To Plant Garlic

Find a fertile area which will not pool with water between Fall and Summer.
Break cloves away from your garlic stock (bulb) by removing the outer wrapper and pulling the cloves apart. If you accidentally remove any of the individual wrappers on the cloves it shouldn't hurt anything.
Plant cloves facing upward about 1 inch underground and a minimum of a foot apart for best results.
You may see some green bits come out of the ground in the Fall or even Winter, but they should be ignored and will likely die back. This does not effect the garlic. Ignore it until Spring at which point they will continue growing above ground.

How To Harvest Garlic

By Early to mid-Summer a flower stalk should form on the garlic.
When you see the flowers forming, cut the stalk off. This should force the plant to focus one last time on bulb production.
The best indicator of it being time to harvest is when the garlic foliage starts turning brown and wilting, even if it is only about 30% of the plant. Dig a test bulb up and take a look.
You should end up holding a bulb with roots a couple inches long with the foliage still attached.
Place this somewhere dry with good air circulation and let it sit for a couple weeks until the foliage has dried out most, or all of the way.
Remove the foliage and roots. What you have now should resemble what you would find at a grocery.

To propagate this plant just keep some bulbs in a cool place such as a refrigerator until the next Fall comes around, break the cloves apart and plant them, starting the whole cycle over again.

garlic

There are many varieties of garlic, and most known garlic cultivars are one of two major types: Hardneck or Softneck. Softneck varieties are what are usually found in grocery stores. Additionally softnecks may be referred to as "Silverskins" when they look like the common garlic seen in stores and "Artichokes" when their wrapper is discolored. Hardneck varieties differ primarily in that they have a differing foliage growth with a literal "hard neck" on the main stem which can feel as stiff as wood, the cloves are usually fewer but larger, hardnecks tend to have a stronger flavor than softnecks, and some are known to have a shorter shelf life. Additionally, hardnecks are referred to as either "Rocamboles" when they have a brown wrapper and "Porcelains" when they have a white wrapper. Some purple striped varieties are common as well. For more information check out [External Reference]

The following is a list of garlic varieties which might be nice to build on, and make notes on or start articles for based on any actual growing experiences with any of these varieties. Due to the widespread nature of garlic and its popularity, some of these aliases for cultivars may be redundant, some of these may have several different names, and a great number of these (see the third list of uncategorized garlic) are known names of varieties but may need some additional research to define. Please help build this list by adding any varieties you're aware of or starting articles about any garlic you have personally grown.

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SOFTNECK GARLIC VARIETIES LIST
Achatami
Acropolis
Acropolis Greek
Applegate
Aunt Louise
Bejing Pink
California Early
Carpati
Chamiskuri
Chilean Silver
China Rose
Chinatown
Chinese Pink Garlic
Corsican Red Garlic
Creole Red
Early Red Italian
French Tarne
Gomecari
Idaho Silver
Inchelium Red
Japanese
Kettle River Giant
Klamath Red Garlic
Loiacono
Korean Mad Dog
Machashi
Mother of Pearl
Nootka Rose
Oregon Blue
Pescadero Red
Polish Softneck
Polish White
Purple Cauldron
Pyong Vang
Red Italian
Red Janice Garlic
Red Toch
Sam Lacona
Shantung Purple Garlic
Sicilian Gold
Siciliano
Silver Rose
Silverskin
Silverwhite
Simoneti
Sisiyou Purple
Sonoran
Susanville
Tashkent Violet Streak
Tochliavri
Transylvanian
True Heart
Tuscan
Tzan
Udabmo
Xi'an

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HARDNECK GARLIC VARIETIES LIST
Ajo Rojo - "red garlic"
Alexandria
Armenian
Armenian Porcelain - gray/silver wrapper.
Asian Tempest - purple wrapper, from Korea.
Australian
Bai Pi Suan
Belarus
Belgian Red
Blanak
Blazer
Blue Italian Gourmet
Bogatyr - hardy, large variety.
Broadleaf Czech
Brown Rose
Brown Saxon
Brown Tempest - purple wrapper, brown-skinned cloves.
Brown Vesper
Bzenc - purple striped, from the Czech Republic, purple wrapper
Cambridge Rose
Carpathian
Chamisal Wild
Chesnok Red
Choparsky
Chrysalis Purple
Chesnok Red - purple wrapper, from the Republic of Georgia.
Czechland Race
Devivo
Dixon
Duganskij
Ferganskij
Floha
Four Leaf Clover
French Red (Hannan)
Estonian Red
Fisher's Knofel
French Germinador
Gazebo Grande
GA Crystal Garlic (aka Georgian Crystal)
Georgian Fire
German Brown
German Hardy Garlic
German Porcelain
German Red
German White
GSF 65 Garlic
Guatemalan Ikeda
Hokkaido Zai Tai
Iowa
Israeli
Italian Red Hard Stalk
Jovak
Keeper
Khabar
Killarney Red - Hardy growth, adaptable to soggy conditions.
Kitab
Korean
Korean Red - big bulbed, from Korea.
Korean Rocambole
Krasnodar Red
Krasnodar White
Kyjev
Lapanantkari
Lavigna Garlic - purple wrapper, brown-skinned.
Leningrad
Marengo Lake
Marino
Max Russian
Mchadidzhvari
Metechi - Purple striped, very hot flavor.
Monshanskij
Morado Gigante - purple wrapper, from Chile.
Music
Music Pink
New Mexico Topset
Northe
Northern White
Ontario Giant
Pacer
Pearly Red
Penasco Blue
Persian Star- purple striped, rich flavor.
Pitarelli
Polish Hardneck - purple wrapper.
Pskem
Purple Glazer - purple striped, tan skinned.
Purple Tip
Purple Understreak
Pyong Vang Korean - purple striped, brown-ish cloves.
Red Czar
Red Grain
Red Revel
Red Janice
Red Rezan - highly cold tolerant.
Red Roman
Romanian Red
Rosewood
Russian Giant
Russian Inferno
Russian Red
Russian Redstreak
Sandpoint Rocambole
Seversky Palichak
Shatili - purple striped, from the Republic of Georgia.
Shvelisi
Shatang Purple
Sicilian Red
Siberian - purple striped, from Siberia.
Skuri
Spanish Roja
Stull
Susan Marie
Tai Cang
Tangsiuina
Temptress
Thai Purple
Turkish
Vekak - purple wrapper, from the Czech Republic.
Vilnius
Volpe
Vostani
Wild Buff
Wonha
Xian
Yampolskij
Youghiogheny Purple
Zaharada
Zemo - from the Republic of Georgia, moderately hot.

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UNCATEGORIZED GARLIC VARIETIES LIST
Most of these are likely to be hardneck varieties, but until that is confirmed they have been placed here.
Achalkachati
Adizanskij
Ail de Pays Parne
Andidzhanskij
Arguni White
Artichoke
Ashworth
Bai Pi Suan
Bavarian Purple
Blossom
Bohemia Red
Chanzhu
Chet's Italian Red
Cichiskdzavari
Cichisugani
Colorado Black
Craskton
Davido
Donostia Red
Dosenko
Dubna Tall
Dubna Standard
French Red
French Red Sativum
French Topset
German Porcelain
Germedors
Gigante Morado
Gravel Switch
Greek Artichoke
Gypsy Red
Hikkaida Zairai
Himalayan
Ididared
Italian Late
Italian Purple
Japo
Jiangsu
Khabar
Kansas Roadside
Kaskaskia Red
Kazakhstan
Kettle River Giant
Korean Hot
Korean Wildfire
Kulbaki
Knemokachati
Kvermokachati
Lanzerotti
Lewandoski
Locati
Lorz Italian
Lotus
Lukak
Luzern Silver
Magraani
Marble Horn
Marino
Mexican Red
Mchadidzhvari
Mild French
Montana Rojo
Morado de Pedronera
Old Homestead
Oregon Blue
Phillips
Pioneer
Polish Jenn
Pride of Maine
Pristinski
Rojo De Castro
Rose du Var
Russian Inferno
Russian Red
Samarkand
Shatili
Siciliano
Sicilian Silver
Skuri
Spanish Morado
Summit Roja
St. Helens
Thermadrone
Tipitilla
Top Set White
Trznice
Verchnyava Mcara
Waddell
Webber Greek
Wedam
Wild Plum White
Wisconsin White

This article was edited on Sat, Oct 10, 2009 at 2:09pm EST.

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