Garlic (Allium sativum)
Delicious bread, protection from vampires and pretty flowers — what more could you want?
Allium sativum is a bulbous plant that grows from divisions of the bulb known as cloves. If a gardener saves some of their own garlic cloves, replanting the best each year, they will gradually produce a good strain well suited to the local soil and conditions. It does best in an open position on rich soil, with no competition from near neighbours. Traditionally it is planted on the shortest day and harvested on the shortest, but if the soil is heavy or liable to flooding, it may be better to delay planting, or to start the plants off in cells (plugs) under cover. It should be planted in a similar manner to onion sets or shallots, except that it is better to push them a little further into the soil.
Garlic can either be eaten green or when fully mature. Green, or wet, garlic is delicious roasted and then spread onto warm, crusty bread. At this stage, the skins around the cloves won’t have formed, so the soft centre can easily be scooped out.
Another way to use it at an immature stage is to pull the plant up anytime from when the stem starts to thicken to when it’s about the size of a small leek and the bulb is beginning to form. At this stage it’s tender all the way through and can be sliced for stir fries…
