Storage and Uses Hardneck will store 2 to 6 months. Softneck garlic is stalk-less and can be braided. The smaller cloves will keep for up to 10 months. Some of my favorites are Sil- ver Rose from the Silverskin group and Early Growing Garlic in the Italian Purple from the Artichoke group. The For more information: Silver Rose is one of the longest storing va- Contact the Master Gardener Home Garden rieties and makes a beautiful braid. In the Diagnostic Clinic hardneck purple-striped group, Chesnok Red May through September is especially good for baking because it holds its shape and keeps its flavor. This garlic has Tuesdays 11:30 a.m.. - 2:30 p.m. 9 to 10 easy-to-peel cloves and has a great aroma. WSU Extension Office 507 N Nanum, Room 2 Try planting different varieties in your Ellensburg, WA 98926 garden this fall to enjoy later after harvest next summer. A braided softneck variety Phone: (509) 962-7507 would make a wonderful Christmas gift for Upper County Toll Free: (509) 674-2584 your gourmet, culinary friends and family. Ext. 507 Try inter-planting garlic with ornamental perennials in a cottage garden border or http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/extension/ in the garden after everything else default.asp is harvested. Garlic has many wonderful uses and will add to your culinary pleasure! Plant some this fall!

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Growing Garlic in the Home Garden It is best to buy certified seed from local nurs- Cultivation and Care of Garlic eries and commercial growers. Certification Garlic is an herbaceous perennial that Garlic ( sativum ) is a member of guarantees that your garlic will be disease and grows well in full sun, in USDA Zones 3 to 8 the lily family as is , , and insect free. (-40 oF. Minimum), will tolerate a range of and Elephant garlic named for its soil pH, doing best as a pH of 6.2 to 6.8, large size and milk flavor is really a . Types of Garlic which is slightly acidic. Keep garlic weed The word Allium is of Celtic origin meaning Garlic is classified as either hardneck or free and water regularly but don’t over water, “pungent” and many yeas ago garlic was softneck. Hardneck garlic ( A. sativum , Orphi- which may cause the bulbs to rot. Fertilizing referred to as Russian penicillin, being used oscorodon group) is more cold hardy and pro- with seaweed extract or compost tea will for medical remedies for all kinds of ail- duces a woody flower stalk or scape. Hard- help produce bigger bulbs. All hardneck ments. There are several wild garlic species necks are divided into the following types: por- varieties produce a flower stalk with small that were widely used by the North American celain, purple-striped, and rocambole. Soft- bulbuls at the end. It is best to remove this Indians such as crow garlic that is a wiry neck garlic ( A. sativum var. sativum ) includes flower stalk one inch above the top to version of cultivated garlic. Many varieties silverskin and artichoke types. Softnecks gar- increase energy into the bulb, but do not that were brought back to this country from lic store better than hardneck varieties, which remove the of soft neck varieties. Spain, Italy, France, and Germany can be might be an important consideration if you are traced back as far as 3000 B.C., possibly growing garlic to keep. Each variety has it’s originating from western Asia and were own distinguishing characteristics describing widely used by the Egyptians. flavor, color, storage time, and number of cloves. There are more than 400 strains of garlic, all of which Planting Garlic are nearly pest Plant garlic in organically rich soil in the and disease early fall, 4 to 6 weeks before the ground Harvesting Garlic free, although freezes, so that the bulb can make some root One week before harvesting garlic, stop a few diseases growth before cold weather arrives. A good watering to help eliminate disease such as such as neck rule of thumb is to plant the individual cloves mold or mildew. Before harvesting, dig up a rot, white rot, 2½ times their size deep and 6 inches apart, plant to check the bulb. If should have skins or rust can af- with the pointed end up and the root end down, formed around each clove and can be easily fect all in rows 8 inches apart. Try not to damage the pulled apart from the center stem. The garlic , tip or root end as you break cloves apart from should be hung in a dry shelter or room with including gar- the garlic bulb. Use only the largest cloves, as good air circulation in a netted () bag or lic. Avoid using garlic cloves from the gro- they will produce the largest bulb. Apply as laid on a screen or rack, in order to cure and cery store, which is often treated with a least 4 inches of straw over the soil before the dry. Brush off any excess dirt with a growth inhibitor that confuses the natural weather turns cold. toothbrush and trim the roots. When the tops growth cycle, keeping garlic bulbs from are dried, cut them off to one inch. sprouting.