How to grow garlic – 

Directions for Planting

The best time to plant Music Garlic is in the Fall. Music Garlic is a Porcelain Garlic, one of the Hard Neck Varieties suited to our climate. It can grow to be 6’ Tall with the flowering stalk left on. Each clove planted in the fall will grow into one bulb containing 4 -6 cloves by the following summer.

For your Garlic to be successful make sure you have a well prepared and weed free bed, with good soil and in an area where it will get full sun. This is important since unlike most other vegetables, your fall planted Garlic will be spending the next 9 months in the ground.

The best time to plant your Garlic is Mid October, before the ground becomes too hard to work.

Break apart your cloves no more than one day prior to planting. Each clove should be planted with the Basal plate down and the pointy end up.

Plant your garlic from 4 to 6 inches deep and 4 – 6 inches apart. Once planted tamp them down & tuck them in for the winter with a mulch of chopped straw or leaves.

Your Garlic will start to emerge through the mulch first thing in the spring, usually by early May. If necessary, pull away any mulch that is too heavy. You can return it when the plants get to be about 6” tall. This keeps your Garlic moist and also helps keep down the weeds. You must make sure to keep your Garlic weed free!

Because of their narrow leaves Garlic will not do well if it has to compete with weeds for sun & nutrients.

In June your Garlic will send up a flower stalk (scape). This should be removed so that the plant can put energy into developing the Bulb. Scapes are edible & a much sought after seasonal treat!

Late July or early August is usually the time to harvest your Garlic. You can tell when to harvest your Garlic once the first few sets of lower leaves start to turn brown and have died back.

Pull up the plant & let dry in a warm airy place. Although you can eat it green, Garlic should cure for 4 – 6 weeks to fully mature.

Garlic Varieties

Porcelain Garlic is one of the Hardneck varieties of Garlic. Porcelains are Big, Bold and Beautiful. They have from four to six large and tightly wrapped large cloves per bulb. A favorite of Chef’s Porcelains are relatively long storing and have a robust flavour. They tolerate our Canadian winters well and are one of our most stunning plants. When left to go to seed, they can grow to be over six feet tall!

Silver Skin Garlic variety is a softneck Garlic.  Because it does not have a stiff neck, this makes it very suitable for braiding.  Our variety “Eureka Danarys” stores very well and is a late maturing variety. This makes it a good addition if you like to spread out your Garlic harvest. Exceptionally long storing, Sliver skins generally have a large number of cloves per bulb, easily 10 plus. The flavours of  Silver skins are typically hot and aggressive, so if you like your garlic strong, this is the Garlic for you!
Persian Star is a variety of Glazed Purple Stripe, it is definitely one of the most attractive of all the varieties. At Harvest, it’s multi coloured Bulb is stunning, while within, it’s cloves are long and narrow with a beautiful pink to purple colouring.  Glazed Purple Stripes are very adaptable to different growing conditions and store very well.  Well worth adding to your collection, this excellent tasting Garlic variety produces 8 to 10 beautifully attractive cloves per bulb.

Jumbo Elephant Garlic is a very large and statuesque plant. Elephant Garlic is not a true garlic, but rather a member of the leek family.  It produces an attractive flowering stock, used to great effect in floral arrangements. Elephant garlic is slow to multiply providing only 2 to 3 cloves per very large bulb.

For those who prefer milder flavouring garlic with large cloves, this is the choice for you.

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