Page 40 - ALG Issue 3 2023

readers articles Garlic
Many civilisations have attributed magical and miraculous properties
to garlic. Ancient Egyptians used it to ward off disease and evil spirits and to discover the fertility of women. The Greeks, on the other hand, believed it could inhibit magic. We take a closer look.
THE MAGICAL CLOVE
The special properties of garlic have been known to give good health and strength since first discovered by the Chinese in 2000BC. It was fed to the Egyptians when building the pyramids, gave the Romans courage to conquer new lands and was carried by medieval pilgrims to ward off the plague.
Garlic is a perennial herb grown as an annual. It prefers a well-drained, light, sandy soil in a sunny, open position.
Each bulb consists of a cluster of white oval cloves or bulbets held together
by a white, pink or purple papery thin silver membrane. The size and flavour of the cloves depends on both the variety grown and the climate. Bulbs can be purchased from seedsmen or from the local shop or supermarket.
SOWING
To sow garlic, split the whole bulb into the separate cloves and select the best. They should be planted base down 2in (5cm) deep and 6in (15cm) apart. Just push the cloves down into finely worked soil that has received an application of
a general fertiliser to give them a good start. If your soil is a heavy clay the bulbs will rot rather than swell, so grow your garlic in pots.
PLANTING
Planting can be done at any time in
the autumn or early winter and again in the spring. Those cloves planted in the autumn tend to be larger when harvested in August as the longer growing season enables a good
root system to develop and helps to counteract our sometimes poor British summers. Those planted in the spring are ready to lift in October.
Garlic gives an excellent return. Plant one clove and harvest 12. Of course, it depends on how much garlic you use in a year, but about two dozen plants usually sees me through a season.
Thin blades of bright green garlic grass will appear very soon after planting and will grow into flat, straight tubular leaves which taper to a point reaching a height of 2ft. (60cm).
CULTIVATION
Little care is needed except keeping the plants weed-free with plenty of surface hoeing. Garlic has strong pesticidal properties: no bug in its right mind will go near the pungent leaves. It makes
a good companion plant, helping to prevent leaf curl on peach trees and reduce black spot on roses.
If the summer is particularly dry the growing plants will benefit from some watering, and liquid fertiliser can be poured between the rows.
If flower buds – which look like tiny bulbets – appear on the central growing stem, pinch them out or bend them over so that all the energy goes into making the bulb.
HARVESTING
In late summer, the leaves will turn yellow-brown and start to wither. This is the time to lift garlic and dry the bulbs.
Garlic gives an excellent return. Plant one clove and harvest 12
Don’t leave them in the ground for long as they will split their protective husks. Lift the whole plant on a dry day, being careful not to damage the bulbs with the prongs of your fork.
Handle the bulbs carefully to avoid bruising. If the weather permits, lay them out in the sun to dry or indoors on racks. Only when they are completely dry and the outer skin is crackly to the touch should you trim the withered leaves away to about 1in (2.5cm) from the top of the bulb and rub off the dead roots.
Neil Birrell, Northmoor Allotments
STORAGE
Store your garlic in a dry place where the air circulates freely and it will stay firm and fresh all year. There are many commercial garlic jars for sale or simply keep them in fine nets – I use old stockings. If you are very clever you can produce decorative garlic plaits.
For so little room in your garden or on your allotment, growing garlic will reward you with something you can use in the kitchen in anything from a stew to a salad. If you haven’t grown it before, why not give it a try?
40 Allotment and Leisure Gardener