We originally wrote a version of this article for Edible Upcountry Magazine, and have recently updated it to make it even better for anyone interested in growing hardneck garlic.
Garlic: a white edible bulb commonly used to repel vampires or terminate a bad first date. What else is there to know about the stuff? A lot, actually.
Before my wife and I started turning our suburban yard into an edible food forest, we knew that we liked garlic, but our sentiments towards Allium sativum would be more aptly described as a modest crush than a mature romance — it certainly wasn’t love.
Our feelings changed rather dramatically once we tasted fresh heirloom garlic that a friend brought us from his brother’s organic farm in Virginia. At that moment, we realized that we’d never actually had “real” garlic before.
