The Best Varieties Of Garlic To Grow In Your Area

Experiment with different varieties of garlic for unique tastes added to your meals.by The Editors Of Organic Life January 10, 2018

Supermarkets typically offer just one choice of garlic. But gardeners who enjoy complex flavors and ethnic cuisines can grow and enjoy the many colorful, tasty varieties that have come from Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

You'll discover that growing garlic is nearly effortless, and it keeps your garden productive when little else is growing. In most regions, you plant in the fall (somewhere between the equinox and Columbus Day is traditional), then harvest the following summer—with plenty of growing season left to plant another crop in that space (such as a late crop of cabbage; garlic naturally repels loopers). The only hard part is choosing which of the hundreds of existing cultivated varieties to grow.

SOFTNECKS VS HARDNECKS

Your first choice is between hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) and softneck garlic (A. sativum var. sativum). Or perhaps a few of each—garlic takes up little room and cross-pollination is not an issue, so there's no reason not to grow as many varieties as you can lay your hands on. Here are the key differences between the two subspecies:

Related: How To Grow Garlic In 3 Simple Steps

Softnecks are adapted to a wider range of climates, they keep longer in storage (which is why supermarket garlics are almost always of this type), they tend to mature faster, and they're generally more productive than hardnecks. The stems of softnecks are easier to braid, but the cloves are comparatively hard to peel.