People always seem a little surprised when I point at the garlic growing in my garden. They’re not only surprised by it’s rather peculiar resemblance to an onion, but the fact that I’m growing it at all. I was once just as puzzled about this! Like many folks, I thought garlic was difficult to grow. [...]

People always seem a little surprised when I point at the garlic growing in my garden. They’re not only surprised by it’s rather peculiar resemblance to an onion, but the fact that I’m growing it at all. I was once just as puzzled about this! Like many folks, I thought garlic was difficult to grow. Well, it’s not hard to grow at all. And once you start growing and eating your own fresh garlic, you’ll want to grow it all the more.

One thing that may cause some confusion is that you plant the stuff about the same time you’re putting your garden tools away for the winter, at least here in Michigan. Garlic is planted in the fall just like tulips and daffodils.

“Plant garlic six weeks before the ground freezes,” advises MSU Extension Educator Ron Goldy, of the southwest district. Goldy, who authored the Extension bulletin on garlic, warns against planting garlic purchased from supermarkets. Those bulbs aren’t grown or stored in a way that is suitable for replanting; plus, in most cases supermarket bulbs are not suitable for our climate.

Purchase quality bulbs for planting from garden catalogs or local garden centers. Keep in mind that garlic will have to be ordered from garden catalogs in May or June. Nurseries will then ship them so they arrive in time to be planted in the fall. Once you’ve made the initial (modest) investment in bulbs, you’ll never have to buy another bulb for planting. A good patch of garlic will provide enough cloves for your culinary purposes and to plant more garlic the next season, and the season after that… well, you get the point. Store bulbs for replanting in a cool, dark and dry place until they can be planted in the fall.

In summer, prepare the garlic bed by working up a spot with a rototiller. Add garden amendments, such as compost, and keep it weed-free. Simply break each clove off the bulb and plant them 1½ to 2 inches deep, 6 inches apart. Before the snow flies, the small cloves will sprout an itty-bitty root before hunkering down for a winter of dormancy.

At the first signs of life in the spring, a little ahead of the asparagus, green shoots will poke through the cold ground. It is at this time you can provide a light feeding of a fertilizer with a high phosphorous analysis. Keep your patch weed-free and provide shallow cultivation. Bugs won’t be a problem; in fact, garlic may even deter the critters, so you may wish to plant it near bug-prone plants. Provide about 1 inch of water per week. Garlic is usually ready to harvest by the end of August.

There are three types of garlic to choose from: elephant, stiffneck and softneck. As the name implies, elephant garlic is the big one, some weighing a half-pound. It has a distinctive flavor and is easy to grow, but less hardy than the stiffneck, so it should be mulched well in the fall for protection.

The stiffneck variety is the one Goldy says is the best choice for our cooler climate, even here in the frigid U.P. It has excellent flavor and stores well. It has a deep red skin and produces nice-sized cloves. There is also a fringe benefit to growing this variety; it produces a hard “scape” at the top of the leaves not long after the 4th of July. The curly scape should be clipped off, which will enhance the size of the bulb. What do you do with the scape? Toss it in a stir fry of veggies or another entreé. Russian red and German white are two popular varieties of stiffneck garlic.

You’ve probably eaten the softneck varieties. They’re popular with California growers. The soft neck of this garlic allows for braiding like you’ve probably seen in magazines. Goldy told me that while the softneck varieties aren’t as hardy in our climate, one in particular—Polish softneck—is hardy for Michigan and suitable for braiding.

Although garlic is a staple in most American kitchens, it hasn’t always been that way. While folks in the Mediterranean, Central Asia, Africa and Europe have enjoyed the taste and health benefits of garlic for eons (the use of garlic in cooking dates backs over 6,000 years), Americans in general snubbed it up until the 1940s, with the exception of those who were growing it in ethnic neighborhoods. Today, Americans consume over 250 million pounds of garlic annually.

There are countless claims about the health benefits of garlic, including lowering cholesterol, as an anti-oxidant, and fighting cancer. I’m no doctor, so I don’t get into verifying or denying these claims. However, I do believe in the health benefits of eating vegetables, especially those that are picked fresh from our gardens. So throw in a little garlic with your vegetables, and enjoy!

Neil Moran is the author of “North Country Gardening: Simple Secrets to Successful Northern Gardening” and, soon to be released, “From Store to Garden: 100 Ways To Make The Most Of Garden Store Purchases.” Visit his website at neilmoran.com.