Just wild about garlic

There’s always garlic on hand in Rob Smith’s kitchen. This month he explains why

- Rob Smith

If there is one thing I love to grow in thegarden it has to be garlic, with its hot andspicy taste when eaten raw, changing tosweet and flavoursome when cooked. In fact, I grow at least three different types to keep me in home-grown garlic all year!

When it comes to garlic there are a few different types you can grow and it’s worth thinking about what you want it for and where it is to grow before making your choice and buying the seed garlic.

There are two main types of garlic, softneck (Allium sativum) and hardneck (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) which we think of as typical garlic, forming bulbs with multiple cloves. These don’t just come in white; there are purple/pink streaked ones and even ones with browner skin when dried.

SOFTNECKS AND HARDNECKS

When it comes to choosing what to grow it’s probably easiest to describe the pros and cons of each type, then depending on what you want you’ll know which to grow in your own garden.

Softnecks normally produce smaller bulbs with more cloves per bulb, tightly packed together. They store for quite a long time and if planted in spring, it’s not uncommon to still have a bulb or two left when planting time comes around the following year. The flavour is said to be more mild, but that depends on the variety. Softnecks don’t produce a flower spike.