One of the earliest documented plants used by humans for the treatment of diseases and maintenance of health was the garlic. Garlic was used at the beginning of recorded history and was found in Egyptian pyramids and ancient Greek temples. There are Biblical references to garlic. Ancient medical texts from Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and India each prescribed medical applications for garlic.. Garlic easily ranks as one of the top-five favorite kitchen seasonings on the planet, but growing garlic can be surprisingly difficult at times, especially if the wrong diseases hit your crop at the wrong time.
Once a garlic field has been infected with white rot fungus, it can take as much as 40 years before the dormant infection disappears. Garlic can also be attacked by a nematode that breeds within the seed garlic for up to six seasons before the plants show any major symptoms, at which point it is not uncommon for the entire crop to be suddenly destroyed.
As many as 600 varieties of garlic are grown around the world. Because garlic has been heavily traded among various countries and because there is no official registry and viruses might make the same garlic species appear in different forms, many of the 600 varieties are undoubtedly duplicates with different names. It is safe to say that there are two main types of garlic: hardneck (Allium sativum ophioscorodon) and softneck (Allium sativum sativum). The hardneck types, also called topset garlic, produce fewer but larger cloves, while the softneck types produce smaller but more numerous cloves. Most of the commercial garlic available in the supermarkets are softneck. Of the predominantly softneck commercial crop, 25 percent goes to the supermarkets and 75 percent goes to the dehydrating market. Hardneck garlic plants send up a central flower shoot called a scape. (Softneck types sometimes produce scapes, too, in times of stress.) The scape can be harvested and sold because it provides a tasty garlic product in the spring, when no other fresh garlic is available. Scapes left on the plants produce flowers that contain masses of bulbils that can be planted to create new garlic plants. Bulbils, produced in the scapes, are smaller than peas; the bulb, on the other hand, contains the cloves. Many small-scale farmers grow hardneck garlic on a two-year cycle, using the bulbils as planting stock instead of the largest cloves, as other growers do.
Softneck garlic varieties are not usually recommended in colder northern climates. The two main commercial garlic varieties, Californian Early and California Late, are both softnecks and comprise more than 90 percent of the commercial plantings in the United States. One reason hardneck varieties are less frequently grown commercially is that the cloves must be planted in an upright position, and this is a difficult task for automated equipment. Softneck garlic cloves, on the other hand, can be successfully planted at any angle.
A third general type of garlic is known as Elephant, or Buffalo, garlic (Allium ampeloprasum). Elephant garlic or Russian garlic is a variant of the species leek and not considered a true garlic. It has a tall, solid, flowering stalk and broad, flat leaves much like those of the leek, but forms a bulb consisting of very large, garlic like cloves, has the mildest flavor, and is mainly used for roasting or stewing. Other types of garlic include Bear’s (Allium ursinum), Serpent (Allium sativum ophioscorodon), Round-headed (Allium sphaerocephalicon) and Shoshone (Allium falcifolium).
Once a garlic field has been infected with white rot fungus, it can take as much as 40 years before the dormant infection disappears. Garlic can also be attacked by a nematode that breeds within the seed garlic for up to six seasons before the plants show any major symptoms, at which point it is not uncommon for the entire crop to be suddenly destroyed.
As many as 600 varieties of garlic are grown around the world. Because garlic has been heavily traded among various countries and because there is no official registry and viruses might make the same garlic species appear in different forms, many of the 600 varieties are undoubtedly duplicates with different names. It is safe to say that there are two main types of garlic: hardneck (Allium sativum ophioscorodon) and softneck (Allium sativum sativum). The hardneck types, also called topset garlic, produce fewer but larger cloves, while the softneck types produce smaller but more numerous cloves. Most of the commercial garlic available in the supermarkets are softneck. Of the predominantly softneck commercial crop, 25 percent goes to the supermarkets and 75 percent goes to the dehydrating market. Hardneck garlic plants send up a central flower shoot called a scape. (Softneck types sometimes produce scapes, too, in times of stress.) The scape can be harvested and sold because it provides a tasty garlic product in the spring, when no other fresh garlic is available. Scapes left on the plants produce flowers that contain masses of bulbils that can be planted to create new garlic plants. Bulbils, produced in the scapes, are smaller than peas; the bulb, on the other hand, contains the cloves. Many small-scale farmers grow hardneck garlic on a two-year cycle, using the bulbils as planting stock instead of the largest cloves, as other growers do.
Softneck garlic varieties are not usually recommended in colder northern climates. The two main commercial garlic varieties, Californian Early and California Late, are both softnecks and comprise more than 90 percent of the commercial plantings in the United States. One reason hardneck varieties are less frequently grown commercially is that the cloves must be planted in an upright position, and this is a difficult task for automated equipment. Softneck garlic cloves, on the other hand, can be successfully planted at any angle.
A third general type of garlic is known as Elephant, or Buffalo, garlic (Allium ampeloprasum). Elephant garlic or Russian garlic is a variant of the species leek and not considered a true garlic. It has a tall, solid, flowering stalk and broad, flat leaves much like those of the leek, but forms a bulb consisting of very large, garlic like cloves, has the mildest flavor, and is mainly used for roasting or stewing. Other types of garlic include Bear’s (Allium ursinum), Serpent (Allium sativum ophioscorodon), Round-headed (Allium sphaerocephalicon) and Shoshone (Allium falcifolium).
