Grow your own vampire repellant

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They’re everywhere, filling books, airwaves, and cable shows with their toothsome tales.  Seductive, beautiful, and irresistible, they’re a perfect example of how good public relations can take the dead and turn them into superstars.  If you’ve been anywhere near pop culture recently, you know the nation’s been bitten with vampire fever. 

And if you’re anything like my monster-purist son, you’re probably wishing these sparkling, soft-hearted, new-age-fiend wannabes would grow a pair of fangs and start acting like the archfiends they’re supposed to be.  Yet if they do return to their bad boy roots, gardeners will be ready for defense, planting bulbs that give these ghouls nightmares.

The one, sure way to keep a bloodsucker at bay is with garlic, a belief that might have sprung from the Romanian tradition of crushing and smearing garlic on everything from doors and windows to livestock horns to repel disease.   A known antibacterial, garlic is also shown to help prevent blood clots, some cancers, and reduce cholesterol.

While wearing braided bulbs is certainly a fashion statement, the Romanians knew that to get the most from garlic, you have to break the clove.  Garlic holds two compounds, alliin and alliinase, in different cells and you don’t get the pungent, sulfurous flavor of garlic until the cells are damaged, allowing the two to mingle. The product they create is allicin, which researchers credit with the most health benefits.

Leave the clove whole, and allicin isn’t created; the garlic is mild, nutty, and well behaved.  Chop or crush it, and the allicin activates, imbuing the air with the odiferous tang that vampires, and lovers, find offensive.

Garlic thrives in Colorado, and if you want to grow your own protection from vampires, there’s still time to pop some in the ground if you act quickly.  Because grocery store garlic might be treated with a growth inhibitor, purchase garlic for planting from garden centers or on-line suppliers.

Softneck garlic (Allium sativum var sativum) has a soft, flexible stem at the top of the bulb that makes it THE choice for braiding into ropes and necklaces for warding off vampires.  Commonly sold in grocery stores, they grow readily. 

Hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var ophioscorodon) produces a curled, flowering stem, called a scape, that eventually turns woody.  Rich with flavor, they have fewer, but larger, easy-to-peel cloves.  Use hardnecks early; they don’t store as long. 

Elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum) won’t help protect you from Dracula and his fiends because it’s more of a leek than garlic.  But the big cloves and subtle flavor make this giant a cook’s garden favorite.  For best size, plant these three inches deep.

Plant now, while we still have four to six weeks before the ground freezes, in a sunny spot with well drained soil.  Plant only the largest cloves, saving the smaller ones for eating.  Push cloves root end down, one to two inches into the soil, about six inches apart. 

Mulch to keep the soil moist and prevent heaving during winter.  Water the garlic if we’re having a dry spell in winter, then plan to harvest in mid-summer, after foliage browns and dies back. Cure in a dry, warm, dark, airy place for a few weeks, then cut stalks one inch above the bulb for storage.

If you didn’t grow garlic and still want to keep the vampires off your neck, don’t worry.  According to legend, they’re also compulsive counters, stopping to tally anything in their way.  An old trick is to strew millet or poppy seeds around, so that the vampire spends the night counting until dawn arrives and it’s forced to return to the grave.

Related Articles

• Mysteries of The World – Vampires (socyberty.com)
• Cooking With Garlic (hubpages.com)
• In the Garden: The Cult of the Cloves (nytimes.com)
• Grow your own garlic at home, but buy “seeds” from the masters (cleveland.com)

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Heat up with garlic

Today’s post can be heard on the public radio show Crop to Cuisine, hosted by Dov Hirsch.

Ready for the summer to heat up a bit?  Then fasten your seat belts and put your tray tables in their upright position:  it’s garlic time.  From spicy hot to nutty mellow, big flavor sprouts from these little cloves. If you’re growing garlic for the first time, Now is the time for you to plan your harvest.  

Hardneck garlic throws a curled, flowering stem called a “scape” that, if left on the plant, eventually turns woody.  Softneck garlic doesn’t normally do this.  

Now, if you want big bulbs, those scapes have to be cut from the plant, snipped off before it makes a loop.  But don’t worry if you missed cutting them from the plant and it bloomed – from this flower small bulbils will form that grow into small bulbs in a couple of seasons.  If you’re interested in propagating your garlic from these bulbils, leave them in place until harvest time and then dry them separately from the bulbs.

Once garlic throws scapes and the tips begin browning back, stop watering it.  Let the leaves die down and harvest when the lower leaves are half to three-quarters brown.  Use a flat shovel or garden fork to loosen the ground near the bulbs and then lift the plants by hand.

Check the first bulbs you pull before harvesting the whole lot by gently brushing away the dirt to look for maturity. They should have reached a good size and be well wrapped in skin.  To help them dry quickly, hang them upside down to cure in a dry, warm, dark, airy place for a few weeks, then cut stalks one inch above the bulb for storage.

 Early varieties should be ready in mid to late July, with mid and late season garlic ready through late August.  

Garlic comes in dozens of delicious varieties, so shop your local farmer’s markets for new types to try.  Some are mellow and good keepers; others are spicy-hot and best used soon.  Make note of the types you liked, then get certified disease free cloves for planting in the fall from places such as Filaree Farm,  The Garlic Store, or Gourmet Garlic Gardens.   

Shop now for best selection – these stores often sell out their garlic, which will be shipped to you in September for planting.  Because of the possibility of chemical storage treatments or disease, don’t plant garlic you buy at the grocer’s.

If you’re a rookie gardener, be aware that garlic varieties offer subtle to strong flavor.  Softneck varieties – those with soft center stalks – are tolerant of common mistakes and easy for beginners to grow.  The bulbs are larger than hardneck varieties and have more cloves. They store well, sometimes for up to 9 months.

Hardneck varieties have a center stalk that is stiffened and woody.  They have fewer cloves and are larger and easier to peel than softnecks.   Both types offer great flavor.  A word of caution on garlic, however.  Depending on the garlic, one bulb will provide many cloves for planting, and you’ll get plenty of garlic bulbs if you plant them all.  This is a lesson I learned due to my enthusiasm for trying nine varieties of garlic.  Silly me, I planted every clove from every bulb, and now I have enough garlic to feed a Tuscan village. 

Eating all of it is out of the question, and now I’m assessing my friends and family to see if they will take some off of my hands.  Every vegetable gardener goes through this.  Each season brings a bounty of one crop or another, and people who are normally friends or acquaintances suddenly become targets for excess produce giveaways. 

 We have a wonderful organization here called Community Food Share, which takes excess produce from gardeners and gives it to those who need it.  Many food banks usually welcome most produce from local gardens provided that it is fresh, undamaged, and clean.  Take your extras to them and let others share in the bounty of the harvest.

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Get ready for garlic

Ready for the summer to heat up a bit?  Then fasten your seat belts and put your tray tables in their upright position:  it’s garlic time.  From spicy hot to nutty mellow, big flavor sprouts from these little cloves. If you’re growing garlic for the first time, here are a few hints for harvest. 

Hardneck garlic (Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon) throws a curled, flowering stem called a “scape” that, if left on the plant, eventually turns woody (Softneck garlic doesn’t normally do this).  From this flower small bulbils will form that will grow to small bulbs in one to three seasons, depending on the variety.  

 If you want big bulbs, scapes have to be cut from the plant.  Snip the scape off after it has made loops, but don’t toss them out – take them inside for stir fry. If you’re interested in propagating your garlic from bulbils, leave them in place until harvest time and then dry them separately from the bulbs.

Once garlic throws scapes and the tips begin browning back, stop watering it.  Allow leaves to die down, and harvest when the lower leaves are half to three-quarters brown.  Use a flat shovel to loosen the ground near the bulbs and then lift the plants by hand.

Check the first bulbs you pull before harvesting the whole lot by gently brushing away the dirt to look for maturity. They should have reached a good size and be well wrapped in skin.  To help them dry quickly, hang them upside down to cure in a dry, warm, dark, airy place for a few weeks, then cut stalks one inch above the bulb for storage.

 Early varieties should be ready in mid to late July, with mid and late season ready through late August.   But these are very general guidelines.  For more information, check out The Complete Book of Garlic by Ted Jordan Meredith (Timber Press, $39.95), a tome serious gardeners should add to their library.

If you can’t wait until the leaves die back, consider pulling up a couple of bulbs for delightful dining.  Before the bulb forms cloves, the base is just like a large scallion; soft and solid with a garlicky flavor.  Slice and use as you would an onion for stir fry.

Garlic comes in dozens of delicious varieties, so shop your local farmer’s markets for new types to try.  Some are mellow and good keepers; others are spicy-hot and best used soon.  Make note of the types you liked, then get certified disease free cloves for planting in the fall from places such as Filaree Farm,  The Garlic Store, or Gourmet Garlic Gardens.   Because of the possibility of chemical storage treatments or disease, don’t plant garlic you buy at the grocer’s.

 

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