How to grow Elephant Garlic
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Introduction
Elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum) is not true garlic but a variety of leek.
The elephant garlic cloves which are comparatively larger than the regular garlic cloves, having a papery skin are used for both culinary purposes and propagation.
Unlike our regular garlic, elephant garlic has a shorter shelf life and so should not be kept for very long.
The taste of elephant garlic is much milder than traditional garlics and the bulb is much larger.
A bulb of five to six cloves of elephant garlic can weigh up to a pound.
Elephant garlic is most often grown in mild climates.
It can develop a bitter taste if grown in cold climates.
The plant is usually planted by hand in the autumn season and harvested in the following summer.
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Crop Rotation
Elephant Garlic is a member of the Onion Family, and it is recommended that it should not be grown in soil that has borne an onion family crop in at least the last three years.
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Site & Soil
The plant grows best in a rich, deeply cultivated, well drained soil.
It likes partial to full sunlight.
Clay loams are better than sandy soils for growing garlic as long as there is adequate surface drainage.
Surface drainage can be improved by making raised beds.
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Soil Preparation
Prepare the soil for planting elephant garlic by digging to a spades depth and tillering to a fine tithe.
Apply a complete fertilizer to the soil at the rate recommended on the package.
HowSeparate the to grow Elephant Garlic - Planting Sets
Split the large head into separate cloves, there should be about five or six large cloves available for planting.
Plant the cloves in a loose well prepared soil, with the pointed end up, and the point being about 2.5cm (1 inch) below soil level.
Plant 25cm (10 inches) apart in all directions, and mark the rows with stakes or labels at either end.
Smooth the the surface of the bed, and spread a thin mulch to keep the soil from crusting, and finally gently apply water.
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Care & Cultivation
It is recommended to mulch the plant immediately after planting.
It requires drip or trickle irrigation throughout its growing season whenever there is a dry period.
Elephant garlic gets easily infected by pests like onion thrips and onion maggots.
It is also known to suffer diseases like downy mildew, bulb and neck rots, leaf blast and purple leaf blotch.
Hence, purchasing disease-free bulbs, rotating crops, hand hoeing and herbicide applications are some ways to protect the plant from pests and weeds.
If the plants are allowed to bloom, the energy goes to support the flower and the garlic bulbs will be a lot smaller, so remove the flower stalks, which can be cooked like asparagus, or they are delicious sauteed in oil until just tender.
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Harvesting
The garlic will be ready to harvest in June of the follwing year, or when the leaf tops become dry or bend toward the ground. At that point you should stop watering the garlic, as too much moisture can cause the bulbs to rot in the soil.
When harvesting elephant garlic gently dig out the bulbs using a border fork to loosen the soil.
Hang it to cure and keep the freshly harvested garlic bulbs in a cool, dark and dry place.
Some people separate the cloves at this point, as the bulb is very moisture retentive.
How to grow Elephant Garlic - Storing & Preserving
You can freeze all of the cloves on a tray and when they are frozen you can store them in containers.
They will remain separate from each other, and you can take out what you need when you need it, and will have garlic for the whole year.
