Plant now for Great Garlic

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All garlic grown in cold climates is likely to be quite spicy, Gunderson says, because the colder the winter, the spicier the garlic. The hardneck types that grow well in New Hampshire don t store well, so Gunderson s wife, Kim, who is Korean by birth, has refin-ed a pro cedure for pickling raw garlic in soy sauce, which Gunderson says he can eat by the bowlful. (Go to www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/pickle.html find pickled garlic recipes.)

CENTRAL:
BOBBA-MIKE S GOURMET GARLIC 

Bob Zimmerman and Wendy Douglas wait for October s full moon to plant their garlic at Bobba-Mike s in Orrville, Ohio. They na-me sever al hardnecks as regional standouts: Music porcelain because it is so cold hardy; Romanian Red - porce lain for its incredible pungent flavor; and Chesnok Red purple stripe for roasting or adding to pasta dishes. Zimmerman also recommends Georgian Fire porcelain -as an ex cellent choice for salsas and other Mexican dishes.

Zimmerman says to make sure you have a soil test done -and ap propriately amend the soil. Garlic likes a pH (acidity level) of 6.5 to 7, and the soil should be ri-ch in or ganic matter. We use composted leaves and chicken manure, he says. Zimmerman and Douglas plant their garlic 3 inches deep in rows 5 inches apart. After the garlic is harvested in midsummer, a quick crop of buckwheat is sown in its place.

They say it s hard to go wrong if you start with a locally -adapted va riety and begin with a sm-all planti ng: Growing garlic is easy, and we think every backyard gardener should give it a try. Zimmerman and Douglas say they love to eat it with fresh homegrown tomatoes, basil, olive oil and a little salt black pepper.

SOUTHEAST:
CORNERSTONE GARLIC FARM 

Natalie Foster says sof-tneck arti choke garlics, planted from mid- October to mid-November, are the best varieties at Cornerstone, in North Carolina s wacky winter and spring conditions. Both Inchelium Red and Lorz Italian prosper in changeable weather, store for months and are great for braiding. Although Music porcelain often doesn t get very big, Foster says the easy-to-peel cloves are packed with big flavor, and you- get won derful scapes to eat in the spring. She loves eating the scapes either raw, baked or roasted.

In search of more good scape producers for her climate, Foster says she is encouraged by- the per formance of various Asiat-ics and tur bans, which she has been growing for the past two years. She mulches her garlic with chopped leaves, mostly for weed suppression, but in her humid climate, harvesting garlic at the right time is the -biggest chal lenge. Harvest garlic when the leaves are no more than 40 percent to 50 percent brown, and try to get it when the soil is dry, she says. Because curing garlic is difficult in humid conditions, Foster closely trims the roots and shakes off dirt from freshly dug garlic, but never washes it. We also have found that garlic cures best when the stalks are cut back to 2 to 4 inches, especially with hardnecks. Foster also highly recommends mild-tasting elephant garliAc. (ampelopras)u,m which is really a leek, because it s such a prolific grower, producin-g 4-inch-di ameter bulbs that often weigh 8 ounces or more. I stuff my Thanksgiving turkey with elephant garlic, and my guests don t know I used garlic. They just know my turkey is great, she says.

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