Columbus Day is this Monday, and during my last visit to Mr. D’s I noticed it was circled on his calendar with the word garlic written in. Having returned last week from dropping Barb off at the Columbus airport with a bag full of garlic from a nearby garden center, I decided a return visit to Mr. D’s was in order.
I found him cutting tomatoes in half on a picnic table. His dog, Dog, greeted me while Mr. D continued to work without pause. “Good Morning, Mr. D,” I called, fruitlessly fending off Dog’s slobbery hellos. “What do you want John?”
“Garlic; I bought some at a garden center. How do I plant it?” He turned to look at my bag and laughed. “How much you pay for those?”
“Not much.” Taking out the packages, I said, “One’s ‘California White,’ the other’s called ‘Spanish Roja’–about 2-3 dollars a bulb, I guess.”
Mr. D turned all the way around, looking quite amused. I looked down beside me to see Dog covering her eyes. I was worried. “Sounds like you need a little schooling on garlic,” he said as he took off his glasses. “This ‘California White’ is the same thing you buy in the grocery store for.. what is it now? Sixty cents a bulb? It’s been forever since I bought any.”
And so school was in session. I sat down with Dog and listened.
“There’s two types of garlic: softneck and hardneck. Your ‘California White’ is a softneck. The ‘Spanish Roja’ is a hardneck. Big difference is flavor and storage. A softneck has a milder flavor, and it stores much longer. That’s why most of what you find in groceries are softnecks.”
“What about elephant garlic?” I asked. “That’s actually not garlic,” he said. It’s a leek that forms a bulb with cloves that taste like a very mild garlic.”
“Now softneck garlic like the ‘California White’ grows best in milder climates like California. It will grow here though. It’s what I grow. You can buy a bulb of garlic from the grocery store, plant the cloves, and it will do just fine. Timing is important though.”
“Garlic is generally planted in the fall. Around here, planting time is Columbus Day, which is interesting because you plant your peas on St. Patrick’s Day, the day of the Irish, and you plant your garlic on Columbus Day, the day of the Italians,” he said.
“If you garden in raised beds, wait until early to mid-November. All we want the garlic to really do in the fall is send out roots. Soil temps in raised beds generally remain warmer, so in order to not get any sprouting above ground before winter, it’s best to plant a little later.”
“Inspect the cloves closely before you plant…you know what they are, right…the individual pieces you put in the garlic press?” Dog and I nodded. “Good. Now make sure as you separate the cloves from the bulb, they have no dark spots, soft spots, e-t-c… the clove should be unblemished. Anything looks suspect, save ‘em for cooking. Then if your soil’s loose and crumbly, you’re ready to plant.”
Holding up one hand, he pointed to his index finger. “Two knuckles deep is how deep you want the clove to sit, pointy side up. Space ‘em one hand apart, from the tip of your fingers to the bottom of your palm. Then mark your rows, lightly rake the bed, and cover with straw or chewed up leaves. Feed them with a high nitrogen fertilizer beginning of April and June. Shouldn’t need to water unless it’s a very dry spring. Very easy crop to grow.”
“When do you harvest them?” I asked. “Fourth of July,” he said. “The tops should be dying back about then. Don’t pull. Use a spading fork to dig underneath and bring the bulbs to the surface. Gently knock off the soil you can. Leave the rest on. Don’t cut off the tops yet. Set them all out to dry. Don’t let them get rained on. Three to four days of sun should do it. Then brush off the dirt. Cut off the tops unless you want to braid them. Peel off the outer couple layers of wrapper till you see a clean wrapper, and you have your garlic. Store them in mesh bags hung in a cool, dark, dry space. That’s it. Now get out.”
Dog accompanied me to the gate, and I thought I heard Mr. D call out, “Love you John.” I stopped and turned, but he was busy cutting up tomatoes. “Love you too, Mr. D,” I thought. I leaned down for a goodbye slobber from Dog, and I left to go plant my garlic.
“Garlic is generally planted in the fall. Around here, planting time is Columbus Day, which is interesting because you plant your peas on St. Patrick’s Day, the day of the Irish, and you plant your garlic on Columbus Day, the day of the Italians.”
