The Crafty Cultivator

Since I “just” posted that old post I wrote about garlic for last year; I figured I should be a little bit proactive and write a basic description of the garlic I planted for this year. I picked 4 new types to try out, as well as choosing the largest cloves of my ‘Legacy’ garlic from last year for planting. If I can manage to make a garlic bed out at my Dads before the fall, I will definitely be adding in more fresh ‘Legacy’ to that for 2023. It impressed me so much. However, since I just did a basic description of it in the last post, I won’t bother putting one here, and just stick to the new varieties.

Siberian – Hardneck, Purple Stripe type. Said to have a medium to strong flavor that mellows with storage or cooking. Possibly has the highest allicin content of any garlic variety. Cloves are covered in a light pink skin that grows redder in high iron soils. One of the top producers in a cold climate.

Duganski– Hardneck, Purple Stripe type. This is the description I’ve found on several different websites, so I’m just going to share it here too: “A stunningly beautiful garlic with large bulbs and an amazing flavour that matches its looks and size. Purple outer wrappers protect the violet-tinged cloves that burst with a fiery flavour and mellow out with a pleasant aftertaste.”

German White – Porcelain Hardneck Garlic. Forms a large bulb covered with bright ivory coloured paper, with easy to peel cloves inside. Apparently in colder climates (like mine) the inner cloves are covered in a darker red paper coating. Said to be a great roasting variety. Sometimes also called “Northern White” or “German Extra-Hardy”

Bogatyr – Marble Purple-Stripe Hardneck Garlic. Known for its fiery heat when raw that mellows out with cooking. Sometimes referred to as Russian Penicillin, this variety was originally located at a farmers market in Moscow. Another great storage variety.

I don’t have any photos from planting for this post, because honestly, when I planted them in the fall, that was about all I could muster up. I am looking forward to seeing how they grow this year though.