This start of garlic was shared with me by an older man in this area. I have grown it for almost 30 years now. He had grown it for years and told me that in earlier days it used to be grown as a cash crop here. (I would guess in the 1940s). He told me about areas where it grows wild in the ditches. I am still aware of one of those spots. The bulbs volunteer each fall and grow through winter before the mowing crews cut the foliage back in June.
I was relocating my garlic bed so this is on my mind. I keep it in a permanent bed. New growth starts in October or November, usually correlating with a slow soaking rain. It will grow through winter putting blooms on in the spring. Then dying back in May. I leave it in ground and dig as needed.
With no exceptions, it is a single clove or bulb. The garlic is spicy (almost hot).
These are some of the bulbs and bulbils that I relocated.
The front half of this bed is the new growth on the replanted garlic.
I have read about single clove garlic being in use in other countries but wonder if anyone here has ever run across it as a growing crop in the US. Does anyone have any thoughts on this garlic?
