Garlic is a must when cooking. We show tips and tricks for growing in your own garden, suitable varieties and for harvesting and storage.
If you like to cook, you can hardly avoid garlic (Allium sativum). While the supermarket goods sometimes cover enormous distances before the tuber finally ends up in our kitchen, the plant can be grown in the garden without any problems. Garlic is also considered to be very he althy and has already been voted medicinal plant of the year.
Originally from Central Asia and Persia, garlic spread quickly and is now cultivated in many countries around the world. Cultivated for centuries, wild garlic plants already exist in a number of countries.
Synonyms: Knuflock, Chnobli (CH), garlic (engl.)
Growing garlic in the garden
Garlic can be grown in your own garden without any problems. If you have no space in the bed, you can also cultivate them in larger flower pots. Garlic gets along very well with tomatoes and can be cultivated together with them in the pots, preferably with garlic mixed cultures beforehand. Garlic feels most comfortable in a sunny location with loose, slightly moist soil. Waterlogging should be avoided at all costs.
Best in autumn, otherwise also in spring, put a few cloves of garlic 15-20 cm apart at a depth of 3-4 cm. The row spacing should be about 30 cm. Even if garlic only grows slowly at first, the fertilization must be weighed up: Nitrogen additions promote the yield, but dilute the taste. In our experience, a good basic fertilization with compost has proven to be very effective. If garlic is over-fertilized, it is difficult to store and begins to rot early. On dry summer days, the garlic needs a little watering. Regular watering is otherwise not necessary.
You can find detailed instructions here: Planting, caring for & harvesting garlic.
Garlic varieties: A manageable selection
There are countless varieties of garlic for commercial cultivation, but they are on the shelves of seed and onion suppliersonly very few made it: Arno, Rosa and Viv alto are three examples. In general, a distinction is made between normal garlic and chives. In the latter case, the green is harvested and processed.
If you would like to learn more about the varieties, have a look here: Garlic varieties: the best 20 at a glance.
- Arno: Well-growing garlic variety with a good yield and white outer skin.
- Fat Leaf: With this variety you don't harvest the bulbs, but the green leaves. This type of garlic is therefore known as chives.
- Neko: Vigorous chives with a good aroma; less intense garlic flavor.
- Rosa: High-yielding variety with an intensely colored outer skin.
- Viv alto: High-yielding garlic variety with a slightly pink colored outer skin; easy and robust to grow.
Harvesting, Drying and Storage of Garlic
It is harvested in autumn when the upper third of the plant begins to wither. When digging up, care should be taken not to damage the tubers. This is a gateway for pathogens that often cause the tuber to rot. If the weather is dry, the freshly harvested garlic is first left to dry on the bed. Then you can braid the plants into a braid or hang them individually in a covered and airy place. Well dried garlic has a long shelf life.
It is best to choose a cool, dry and dark place for storage. Garlic should not be stored in the refrigerator. It is too cool here and moisture is also removed from the tuber. The aroma is lost after a few days. Some people cut the garlic into small cubes and slowly dry them in the oven. Taste is lost here, but the end result is still acceptable for drying. Putting it in olive oil (possibly with a little chili and rosemary) is another way of preserving the great garlic aroma.
You can find even more information worth knowing in our special article on garlic harvesting and storage.
Ingredients and uses in the kitchen
Particularly the sulphur-containing secondary plant substances such as alliin are responsible for the typical smell of garlic. However, it is precisely these substances that are also said to have an antibacterial effect. Potassium and phosphates are two of the minerals it contains. Regarding the garlicThe researchers are not unanimous about the effects attributed. Some studies show a positive influence on blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood lipids, but there are also studies that contradict these results.
Nevertheless, garlic is very tasty and should not be missing from Mediterranean and Asian dishes. When frying, however, you should be careful that the temperatures are not too high and the garlic does not get too dark. Because then it tastes bitter.
Diseases and Pests in Garlic Cultivation
Garlic is one of the few plants that grow easily in the garden. Once planted, with the exception of watering in midsummer, you can sit back and relax and wait for the harvest. In very rainy years, the tubers can already rot in the bed. The same occurs at locations with waterlogging. Garlic rust occurs every now and then in commercial cultivation, which is why farmers should pay close attention to crop rotation.