Growing great garlic involves lots of hard work, a little skill, and ideal growing conditions.

The first thing is to select a variety or varieties that are suited to the area that you live. Here, in east central Saskatchewan, we are in the black soil zone. Our soil is naturally fertile with a clay loam texture. The rainfall is usually timely and sufficient and the winters are long and cold. These are ideal conditions for the hardneck variety that we grow called Music.

Seeding is done in the fall around the end of September to the beginning of October. Before seeding can begin, however, the soil must be prepared by tilling quite deeply and thoroughly.

The most difficult part of seeding is the cracking, which is breaking the heads of garlic apart into individual cloves. This is done by hand. There are machines for this job but we are concerned that they could damage the cloves thereby providing an opportunity for disease to take hold. After the heads are cracked, we try to have the cloves in the ground within 24 hours. If it is any longer the cloves will begin to dry out.

Each clove is planted approximately four inches deep and eight inches apart in double rows. The double rows are twelve inches apart and there is a space of five feet between each set of double rows. The reason for the five feet is to accommodate the tiller. This row spacing works well for crop rotation as well. The large space in between the sets of double rows allows us to plant next year’s crop in this area. It is advisable to not plant in the same place two years in a row. After seeding we rest up, plan for next year and wait anxiously for spring.

Around the third week of April we will see signs of garlic tops pushing through the soil. We know the weeds are not far behind.

Therefore as soon as the ground dries, we will have to start weeding. Since garlic does not compete well with weeds, we weed, weed and weed some
more! All the weeding is done by hand. We go through the crop about five times from May to mid-July. We pride ourselves on not using ANY chemical for weed control.

Hardneck varieties like the one we grow will develop a central stock, which goes straight up and then makes one or two loops. This part of the garlic plant is called a scape. The scape contains a bulge where bulbils (seeds) will form.

Around the end of June to the beginning of July the scapes are cut off so the plant won’t put energy into producing bulbils but will instead put all its energy into producing a large bulb. Many people don’t realize that the scape is an edible part of the garlic plant. Although the flavour of the scape is milder than the bulb it can be substituted any time garlic is called for. We recommend eating scapes within one week of being picked. Fresh scapes will last up to one week in the refrigerator. We have found that the flavour is weakened considerably when frozen. Scapes can also be pickled. I use the same brine for scapes as I would for cucumbers. The taste will amaze you.

Harvest takes place in the beginning of August. This is very exciting since everything is taken out of the ground and you can finally see the end result.
We dig up the garlic when about one third of the leaves turn brown. It is necessary, especially with our heavy soil, to use some tool to loosen the plants from the soil or the bulbs will bruise or break off the stem when pulling them out. Once the garlic is pulled, the dirt is removed from the bulb and roots by hand and they are hung to dry. After the garlic is hung, we let it cure or dry out for about five to seven days before selling.