Garden Advice

Beginners Guide to Growing Great Garlic, Perennial Onions, & Shallots

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It’s that time of year again! The arrival of cooler temperatures and changing leaves means it’s time to add perennial onions and garlic to your garden. Both of these are great crops because they provide tons of flavor, take up little space, and you only have to buy them once. Both are easy to cultivate for years. 

Choosing a Variety

The most important thing is to get quality seed. While you can purchase garlic at the grocery store it won’t do as well as garlic from a reputable source. Store-bought garlic is often treated so that it won’t sprout and may be adapted to growing in a climate different than your own. 

Perennial Onions & Shallots

At SESE we carry a variety of perennial onions including shallots, Egyptian walking onions, multiplier onions, and potato onions. Egyptian walking onions are topsetting onions that are typically used for their hardy greens. Shallots, multiplier, and potato onions are planted as single bulbs and produce multiple bulbs which can be harvested or divided and replanted the following summer.

Garlic

At SESE we carry four types of garlic; hardneck, softneck, Asiatic & turban, and elephant garlic.

Hardneck or rocambole garlic is better adapted to cooler climates and performs best from Virginia northward. It has become more popular recently because it produces flower stalks or scapes that can be cut and eaten before the garlic is ready to harvest. Hardneck garlic varieties have a diverse range of flavors.

On the other hand, softneck garlic does best in warmer climates and is more domesticated than hardneck garlic. It doesn’t produce scapes. However, the lack of scapes makes it easy to braid softneck garlic. It also stores incredibly well and typically has higher yields. 

Asiatic and Asiatic Turban garlic are tentatively identified as an artichoke subtype. Unlike most artichokes types, the stems are hardneck; however, in warm climates, they may revert to softneck. 

Though elephant garlic isn’t true garlic it is cultivated in the same way. It has a milder flavor than other garlic making it perfect for raw use. It’s also excellent steamed with other vegetables. 

Planting

The first step to planting garlic and perennial onions is selecting an appropriate planting site. Although you plant in the fall, you need to consider what your garden is like in the summer. Garlic and perennial onions both produce the best bulbs with full sun. They also need lots of organic matter, neutral pH, and good fertility. Amending your bed with good quality compost and using a broad fork to loosen the soil is an excellent idea. Compost adds both fertility and organic matter and can be used to improve any soil type whether you have sandy beds or heavy clay. Raised beds are also ideal.

To plant garlic, gently separate the cloves and plant them tip-up, 6 inches apart or 10-12 inches apart for elephant garlic. In southern climates, they should be covered with about 1 1/2 inches of soil and in northern climates about 3-4 inches of soil.

Large perennial onion bulbs (3–4 in. diameter) should be planted 6–8 in. apart while smaller bulbs (½–2 in. diameter) can be planted 4–6 in. apart. White multiplier onions and perennial leeks should be spaced 2 in. apart in rows 12 in. apart. Space Egyptian walking onions 9 in. apart.

No matter what variety you’re planting we recommend planting in rows for easy of cultivation. To get good-sized bulbs both perennial onions and garlic should be kept as weed-free as possible. 

Care

Perennial onions and garlic both benefit from a thick layer of mulch. This helps to suppress weeds, keep them moist, and protect them from the cold, especially while they’re getting established during the fall. Leaves, straw, hay, grass clippings, and woodchips can all be used to mulch onions and garlic.

Adequate watering is important for a productive crop. Keep your soil moist as onions and garlic are getting established during the fall and while they’re growing in the summer. Watering should be stopped two weeks before harvest to allow the skins to dry and harden. All alliums should be kept as weed-free as possible. 

Harvesting & Curing

Harvesting garlic and perennial onions isn’t as simple as tugging them out of the ground. In order to store well, garlic and perennial onions both require proper harvest and curing. Before harvesting onions the tops should turn brown and fall over. Garlic should be harvested when the lower ⅓ of the leaves turn brown. 

Try to avoid breaking stems. Unless your soil is very loose you may want to use a garden fork to harvest onions and garlic as gently as possible. For hardneck garlic, scapes are best harvested when they’re mild and tender. Remove scapes by clipping them off at the base before the ends curl.

To cure onion and garlic bulbs lay them out in a single layer on wire screens or wooden shelves in a well ventilated, dark spot for 1-2 months. Curing improves their flavor and storage ability.

For more information visit our harvest and curing guide.

Want to pick up onions and garlic in person? Be sure to visit us this weekend at the Heritage Harvest Festival!

Additional Resources

Garden Advice

September Planting

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Cool crisp September mornings are a pleasant time to spend in the garden. While fall brings cooler temperatures and dwindling sunlight it can still be a productive time in the vegetable patch. Here are a few plants you can sow this September and a few of our favorite fall varieties. In Virginia we’re sowing:

  • Mustards
  • Kale
  • Arugula
  • Lettuce
  • Endive
  • Radishes
  • Spinach
  • Turnips
  • Austrian Peas
  • Winter Wheat

Always keep in mind that exact planting dates will vary with your location. For those farther south, you’ll still be planting less cold-hardy crops while those in the far north should be preparing to plant garlic and perennial onions. September is also a good time to think about season extension.

Chinese Thick-Stem Mustard

This variety from Even’ Star Farm offers superb cold tolerance and is hardy down to 6°F. It also has excellent flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked. Though not quite as cold tolerant, Red Giant Mustard can also be used for fall planting and adds a nice pop of color.

Lacinato Rainbow Mix Kale

This variety offers the delicious flavor of Lacinato kale and gorgeous colors. Created by crossing classic Lacinato with Redbor hybrid kale; this kale is extra-cold-hardy! The 2014 seed crop went through a -6°F freeze and seed was saved from the plants that survived. This OSSI variety was bred by Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed.

Even’ Star Winter Arugula

Another Even’ Star Farm variety, this arugula is cold-hardy down to 6°F. It can be grown in open fields or hoop houses and does well with little watering and poor soil fertility. 

Red Salad Bowl

A great fall variety with gorgeous color. Salad Bowl is also a good choice for a green fall lettuce.

Rouge d’Hiver (Red Winter) Romaine Lettuce

Here in Virginia, we’ve had good luck overwintering this variety under row cover. It’s a tasty French heirloom that dates back to 1840. Rouge d’Hiver forms semi-open romaine heads.

Misato Rose Fall Radish

Beautiful and forgiving, this radish deserves a place in your fall garden. Perfect for adding color to autumn salads this radish will bulb properly even when crowded or thinned late.

Winter Bloomsdale Spinach

Adapted for fall planting and overwintering, these slow-bolting plants are resistant to blue mold, blight, and mosaic. They have dark green, well-savoyed leaves.

Nabo Roxo Comprido Turnip

These long white, purple-topped turnips are widely grown in Portugal as a dual-purpose crop. They’re excellent for fall planting and can be used as fodder as well as great eating for the winter table.

Austrian Winter Peas

Hardy to 0°F, Austrian Winter Peas make an excellent edible cover crop. They fix nitrogen in the soil and the tendrils or growing tips can be snipped off for use in salads!

Hard Winter Wheat

Bred in the Southeast, this new variety produces excellent grain for baking or can be used as a cover crop. It provides high yields and has very good wheat rust resistance.

This September, try a couple of SESE fall favorites in your vegetable patch. It’s also an excellent time to plant cover crops which can help improve your soil’s health. This time of year can also be used to add perennials to your landscape.

Garden Advice

Harvesting, Drying, & Eating Popcorn

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Though the grocery store may only carry yellow or white popcorn home gardeners know that popcorn comes in variety of colors. You may also know that popcorn can be used in a variety of ways. In fact, popcorn was probably first ground like other flour corns to make bread. Native Americans had domesticated popcorn by 5000 B.C.E. but as far as currently available archeological evidence suggests, popping popcorn as we do today didn’t become popular until the 1820s.

Check out the PBS article, History of Popcorn, for more interesting information.

Harvesting

Popcorn should be left to dry in the field as long as possible. When you harvest, the husks should be completely dry and the kernels hard. You should then dry your corn as soon as possible.

Drying

Once you’ve harvested your popcorn, it should be hung somewhere cool and dry. An easy way to do this is to pull the husks back, remove the strings, and hang them on a line with clothespins either indoors or under cover. Some folks also have luck completely removing the husks and hanging mesh bags of ears. Especially if you live in a humid climate, be sure to move the bags around every few days and check for signs of mold or mildew where the ears of corn touch eachother.

Popcorn needs to dry until it reaches an ideal moisture content of between 13 and 14%. This level of moisture is key to getting good “pops.” While your popcorn is hanging to dry test a few kernels once or twice a week. When they pop well you can move your popcorn to storage.

If you just can’t wait to eat a bit you can speed up the process with a dehydrator. Shell a few ears and lay the kernels on a dehydrator tray. Dehydrate between 120-130°F, checking few hours until it’s popping well.

Storing

To save space, shell your popcorn and place it in airtight containers. It will keep for several years.

If stored popcorn won’t pop it may have become too dry. Don’t worry though, you can add moisture to make it pop again. Fill a quart jar with popcorn and 1 tablespoon of water. Shake occasionally until all the water is absorbed. Check to see if it will pop every 3 to 4 days and keep adding water 1 tablespoon at a time until it pops well.

Popping

Making popcorn on a stovetop is surprisingly easy. Begin by heating a large, thick-bottomed saucepan or dutch oven with lid with about 3 Tbs of olive oil in it over medium heat. Once hot, the oil should cover the bottom of the pan. Then add 3 kernels to the pan and place the lid on.

When all the kernels have popped, add 1/3 cup of kernels and place the lid back on. Ocassionally slide or shake the pan back and forth redistributing the popcorn. When the popping slows to a few seconds between pops remove your pan from the heat and enjoy!

Other Uses

Popcorn also makes wonderful cornmeal or grits. Check out our article about proccessing flour corn for tips. You can also make popcorn pie!

Additionally popcorn can be eaten like sweet corn in what’s called the “milk stage.” When the husks are still green but the silks have begun to brown check an ear or two to see how the kernels look. For colored popcorns it’s ready just before it takes on darker colors. You can also check by tasting it or by piercing a kernel with a fingernail. If white liquid comes out it’s ready for fresh eating.

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