Growing Garlic

Garlic has a lucky lot in the plant world (at least from a human perspective)--it's as easy to grow as it is to eat.  Earl, from Ohio, a caller into Homegrown (Martha Stewart Living Radio Sirius channel 112), agreed, although as a first time grower, he pondered how he could get the bulbs to grow their biggest.  Andrew knew an easy solution: for the common "hard-neck" type garlics, cut down the woody flowering stalk.  This stalk appears as a curling stem that eventually blooms into a globe-like flower. By cutting down the stalk as soon as it emerges from the surrounding leaves, the extra nutrition that would have fed the flower is instead stored in the bulb, increasing the size of the garlic head.  The difference between "hard-neck" varieties of garlic, such as 'Romanian Red' and 'German Red', and the "soft-neck" varieties, which include 'Sicilian' and 'Italian', is that soft-necks do not grow a flowering stalk, and, while having a lesser full-bodied flavor than their hard-necked counterparts, are best for storing and braiding.   A great source for a wide selection of garlic varieties, both hard and soft-necked , is Ronninger Potato Farm, a Colorado-based nursery.