No, it’s not Christmas. Or Halloween. It’s garlic harvest!

We are huge fans of garlic in this household. I’ve written about it before and I will write about it again. Year after year. There is nothing quite like fresh, local garlic. It’s so much more delightful than what is usually available in the stores which has often been in storage for months. Fresh and local is always better: more flavour, creamier texture.

To celebrate the first purchase of the year I chose four heads from the two pounds that we bought. I sliced off the tops, trimmed the roots, drizzled the heads with olive oil and roasted for half an hour at 375^o F. in our toaster oven. I let it cool than peeled off the papery cover. I used one head, five plump cloves, to slather on toasted, well buttered bread and served with a bowl of soup. The rest I refrigerated to add to stir fries, stews and soups. I’ll also use it in the next few days on baguette or crackers with melted brie. Yummy!

Garlic is an easy crop to grow. Buy your heads now but do not plant until the weather and soil cools considerably! For us in Manitoba, planting is often the first couple weeks of October. With the increased interest in the last few years with growing food, planting garlic has sold out quickly. It should be in garden centres now, along with other fall planted bulbs like tulips and daffodils.

Garlic wants to be in full sun, with well drained soil. To develop fat cloves it needs consistent water. You do not have to have a vegetable garden; garlic cloves can easily be tucked into an existing shrub or perennial border. The strappy foliage looks fantastic with the larger leaves of perennials and shrubs. Simply break out the cloves, plant down three times the length of the clove, pointy side up. In a cold climate like ours I would mulch well with leaves, and don’t be in too much of a hurry to remove the mulch in spring.

Garlic comes in hardneck or softneck forms. They’re both delicious but I prefer to plant hardneck because then you get scapes. Scapes are the flowering stem of garlic, a curly shoot that grows above the foliage. Remove them when they have the curl but before they get too woody and they are good eating. The mild garlic flavour is excellent for stir fries, as a garnish, and such. The scapes should be removed so that more energy goes into developing your cloves. I’ve used the scapes to make a form of pesto, which was excellent on baguettes but also a great base for a salad dressing.

If you are in Manitoba, there is an excellent Facebook page ‘Manitoba Garlic Growers’. You can get info on when other people are planting, when they are taking their scapes, when they are harvesting. I’m sure whatever place you are in you can find something similar. Happy Planting! And good eating to you!