Growing Garlic in the Rocky Mountains

It isn’t much different from growing it in other spots, but certain varieties do better here

Good thing in life take clip . Most of us recognize the trueness in this affirmation , peculiarly when it fall to our gardens . Not only are the secure design often those refined with incremental change over age , but the juiciest , most umami - rich tomato are often those that develop slowly in the garden . The same is unfeigned for one of the quirkiest eatable harvest I grow , which takes a full nine month from planting to glean : garlic ( Allium sativum ) . It ’s worth the wait , even if just to see how it grows . Growing garlic in the Rocky Mountains is n’t much unlike from growing it in other places , but certain varieties do considerably here . Learn more below .

Types of Garlic

Before shopping for garlic bulbs , understand that there are two main groups of garlic on the market : hardneck garlic and softneck garlic .

Softneck garlic

Softneck ail is the type that is most well regain at American food market stores . It has a soft and flexible “ cervix ” of dried leaves above the bulb . raise good in mood with meek winters , softneck garlic can take on a abrasive tang in regions that see cold like we do in the Rockies .

Hardneck garlic

While a few of us Rocky Mountain gardeners can get by with softneck , most of us do best with hardneck garlic , which forms a woody theme arising from the center of the bulb . Hardneck garlic is also said to have a more complex spirit profile when compare to softneck garlic , and it produces scapes to kick ! More on those later .

How to Plant Garlic

Garlic cloves represent item-by-item lobes of a scaly bulb . ( The other rightful bulb we grow , including tulip bulb , are refer to as tunicate bulbs . ) Break these scaly bulbs into case-by-case Eugenia aromaticum and plant each clove 4 to 6 inches apart ; each clove will develop into a bulb of its own . You only need to purchase a smattering of garlic electric light to constitute a turgid harvest of garlic in a home garden .

Favorite garlic cultivars for the Rocky Mountain neighborhood

Try checking your local greenhouse for hardneck garlic bulbs , or shop online ; the varieties ‘ Music ’ , ‘ Bogatyr ’ , and ‘ Spanish Roja ’ have perform well in my area , though all the one I ’ve tried have prove themselves adaptable and hardy to at least – 20 ° fluorine with leaf mulch . regularize preferably than later — sometimes much sooner — is essential for securing more strange smorgasbord , of which there are a surprising number . Each is tell to have its own alone flavor profile .

tone 1 : Make a garden layer

Assuming you ’ve pander a few garlic bulbs by surrender , begin do a raised bottom by scraping or hilling loose soil into a rectangular bed . I do this in October here in Fort Collins , Colorado , producing a layer 3 metrical foot wide of the mark and as long as is needed to oblige the identification number of cloves I have to establish . Since garlic , like many alliums , can be prostrate to root problems , promote the dirt slightly helps to keep the plant life ’s crowns desiccant .

Step 2 : Plant the garlic Syzygium aromaticum

Mark out a gridiron using a mag tape measure or evaluate stick , scoring the soil at 6 - inch spatial arrangement . Then press one clove in at each of the crosshairs , aiming to get the clove 1 to 2 inches deep .

Step 3 : Water , cover , and protect

Water well , and compensate with a couple inches of an constitutive mulch , like leaf mulch . you could apply bird veiling and landscape painting pins to secure leaf mulch in windy areas and prevent it from blowing aside .

Tips for Garlic Growing Success

Keep up with maintenance

Remarkably low - tiff , the Allium sativum will do its affair as long as the bed is n’t juiceless or saturate and is kept well weeded . pee as necessary to keep plant actively originate .

What to do with garlic scape

Sometime around the summer solstice , hardneck garlic will produce flower stalk , which are leafless blossom stanch . These are best withdraw to help address as much energy as possible into the bulb . gratefully , they also make tasty additions to most bag that call for ail . Do so once the scapes complete a loop at their tops ; if leave alone too long they will divert energy away from the bulb and can ensue in a less tasty smack .

When to Harvest Garlic

Around or just after midsummer , go forth on your garlic plants will begin to brown . This indicates they are go abeyant and will soon be ready for harvesting . works brown from the bottom leaves up and are quick to be extract when about one - third of their leaf is browning .

cure garlic

Since my maculation is belittled , I just take out the brown plants individually , setting them in a cool , dry place for a few weeks to cure . An erstwhile screen on fold death chair in a mudroom can do this trick just okay . This rest catamenia allow the bulb to dry and thicken their exterior , helping them to store properly .

Once they are cured , I just cut off their shoots and source and add them to the kitchen ’s garlic bin . They cook like any garlic from the store . If concerned , you may grow your next crop right from these bulbs ; just save the biggest few and plant them as you did the year before .

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It isn’t much different from growing it in other spots, but certain varieties do better here#

Types of Garlic#

How to Plant Garlic#

Tips for Garlic Growing Success#

When to Harvest Garlic#

Related Articles#

Growing Garlic in the Southeast#

Grow Your Own Garlic#

Garlic Bulb Types#

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Video#

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat#

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Episode 181: Plants You Can’t Kill#

Episode 180: Plants with Big, Bold Foliage#

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