Food & Dining Garlic

Hi everyone

Need tips on growing garlic, I am sure @Lizzie can help.

We have a great herb garden, nothing beats fresh.

Paid $49 per kilo for garlic recently, expensive, but we pretty much use it daily, we are garlic mad.

Anyone successfully growing garlic?


MTR

 

Additional question, can it be grown in a pot?

 

Lots of sun, good drainage.

 

Good stuff keeps vampires away....few on this site.... .

$49 for a kilo....MTR you have way too much mullah!

 

Split it up, put it in the ground in full sun and water it. Easy as MTR
It will start growing roots and shoots in a cupboard if you don't use it quick enough so very easy to grow.

 

Take a clove of garlic, and soak it in water before planting, it works for me!

 

@MTR

$49 a kilo??? Are you buying it at David Jones?

 

Even at Coles its $30 Garlic loose | National so I imagine it's more if you go to a good place and get good stuff

 

the garlic at Coles is terrible. Its really hit and miss.

I like the huge purple garlic. Don't know the technical name.

 

Also, remember its Perth, we pay more our food than you guys over East.
Though agree this is a little over the top.

 

Hehe yea that's what I meant; it's going to be more from somewhere that's good quality

 

Tinky Winky?

 

Yep, got it.
Got sick of the quality of herbs and cost so
I also started growing herbs, basil, Italian parsley, thyme, Thai basil, coriander, mint, rosemary and chilli.

Its fantastic to be able to pick fresh herbs from your garden.

 

Man - asking me to talk about garlic is really going to send the parrot into overdrive ... I can talk garlic endlessly.

Good rule of thumb is plant at Easter - harvest around Melbourne Cup - the garlic will tell you when it's ready. Garlic likes moist but not wet soil, just like any vege garden, so keep up the mulch and dripper ... don't let it dry out. Garlic is also pretty hungry during the growing period (autumn and spring) so, if your soils aren't rich such as sandy loam, feed it. Garlic also doesn't like competition, so don't grow anything else around it.

Plant around 15x15cm - no closer than 10x10cm. Can be grown in pots (refer above conditions). Try to plant in a good airflow location, to prevent disease and moulds growing on the leaves.

Some varieties of garlic grow flower heads (scape), which is super tasty for so many things, some don't ... some bulb like teardrops and others like golf balls ... some have hot and sharp flavours and others are mild and nutty ...

Good garlic does cost ... we sell ours at $35/kg plus postage ... and it tastes 400% better than that rubbish from the supermarkets. We tell our customers to only use 1/4 of what they are used to due to the freshness and intensity of flavour. Also, the supermarket stuff has often been cold stored ... cold store ruins the garlic and forces it to sprout when taken out to put on the shelf (just like putting your daffy bulbs in the fridge before planting). Garlic that has never been cold stored will stay fresh on your kitchen bench anything from 6-12+ months depending on the variety.

Variety is important, depending on location. Some you can grow in northern-ish Queensland because it's "time in the ground" rather than day length maturing ... some do badly on the coast ... others do better ... there are around 200 different varieties of garlic in Australia, so plenty to pick from ... sourcing seed stock might be tricky tho.

Never plant any garlic you buy in the supermarket ... imported stuff (despite being sprayed with toxic chemicals) still contains nasty viruses that we don't yet have in Australia ... the Australian stuff is okay to plant, but may have been sprayed with grow inhibitors, or cold stored or generally mucked up ... best to try and buy direct from the grower.

Anyhow - don't want to bore you too much - let me know if you have any other questions

 

Oh - when you're ready to plant - break up the bulb into cloves. Each clove will give you a new bulb. Plant pointy side up (or at least on it's side) to the depth of the clove itself - just like you do with vege seeds. We'll be putting ours in the ground end of March - Queensland plants end of Feb - Tassie plants right through until June

 

What's Italian parsley? Never heard of that one before. Is that like Continental parsley or some other variety?

 

@Lizzie do you send all over Australia?

 

Great info! Any recommendations for varieties to plant in a coastal area near Sydney? And even a supplier?

Planning out the herb garden at the moment.

 

Sold out already in record time this season ... couldn't believe it as mainly online and via word of mouth. We do have a website with online store and FB page but it was interesting to note the repeat business - and a purchase in a particular area followed by a dozen orders from the same area. Huge demand for fresh, local and organically grown

Can't send to WA, SA or Tassie due to quarantine regs.

 

Diggers are good if you don't mind the cost - otherwise google is your friend. A great website to find out about the different garlics, and what would grow where is www.australiangarlic.net.au

I wouldn't recommend any of the Creole varieties coastal