Garlic grows well in Yuma

If you like garlic, you should consider trying some unusual or gourmet varieties. Garlic thrives in Yuma, and it's economical to grow.

Some garlics are hotter than others, some milder; and to add an extra nuance, garlic's flavor changes when it's cooked - some varieties have more robust flavor after being roasted than others. But since most stores only carry one type of garlic, to explore its full range, you'll need to grow your own.

Starting with the right variety improves your chances of success. Garlic has evolved over thousands of years so some varieties prefer colder winters, some warmer. USDA testing in the 1990s identified 10 types of garlic, which fall under the well-known general categories of "hardneck" (varieties that produce a flower stalk) and "softneck" (varieties that don't).

Yuma's mild winters produce the biggest bulbs from garlics that fall into the artichoke and silverskin families. The artichoke family includes two subvarieties: Asiatic and turban. The silverskin family has only one subvariety: Creole, which some call Mexican purple.

You can start planting garlic in mid-September, though you may prefer to wait until October. Soil temperatures then fluctuate between 80 and 90 degrees, which is when garlic sprouts. Fall planting exposes garlic to winter's cold, which it needs to bulb properly.

To plant, carefully separate the cloves from a garlic bulb, saving the biggest cloves; plant them two to three inches deep, pointy-end up, about six inches apart. Lunar gardeners will want to know that you plant garlic by the dark of the moon.

This year I planted several varieties, including some that aren't supposed to do well here. I planted in November, in soil I had amended with compost and organic fertilizers (alfalfa meal, soybean meal and kelp meal). My soil is valley clay, so it's fairly tight, and I didn't know what size bulbs I'd end up with.

After planting, I mulched deeply (four to six inches) with a mixture of ficus leaves, grass clippings and alfalfa hay/wheatstraw. Mulching balances soil temperature swings, minimizes surface evaporation, reduces weeds and feeds soil organisms - serving as a long-term soil builder. I added more mulch in March or April - just before the triple digits arrived.

Garlic needs three to five years to adapt to new soil/growing conditions, so your best bet is to find a local supplier of growing stock, if possible. If you order from a catalog and your first-year crop produces small bulbs, be patient, save the biggest bulbs you harvested and replant the biggest cloves from those bulbs. Remember, though, that size doesn't necessarily equate to flavor or heat.

Garlic demands your best, most fertile soil. In "Growing Great Garlic," Ron Engeland advises preparing your bed one to two years in advance using cover crops and organic fertilizers.

If you want to get started in less time, you can prepare a bed over the summer by adding compost and slow-breakdown nitrogen amendments (seed meals, coffee grounds, alfalfa, manures). Till these materials into the surface, mulch, and water regularly to encourage the materials to break down.

You'll need to add nitrogen when you plant, and again during the growing season. Nitrogen encourages abundant leaf growth, important because the leaves will provide nutrients to the bulbs once they start to develop. Midseason fertilizer options include:

- Organic nitrogen (manures, blood/fish meal, seed meals) - side dress in February.

- Foliar nitrogen (fish/seaweed emulsion) - spray on leaves monthly.

- Timed-release inorganic nitrogen (such as Osmocote) - apply at planting, then again in February, but no later.

- Other inorganic nitrogen (crystals or water-soluble) - follow package instructions.

- Don't apply nitrogen after the spring equinox, when your garlic starts to bulb - you'll encourage leaf growth at the expense of bulb size.

Harvesting is tricky the first time, until you know what to look for. At April's end, start looking for dying leaves. Once you start seeing them, gently remove a little soil from around the base of the plant to check on the size of the bulb. Gently squeeze the plant stalk near the ground - if the stalk is firm, nutrients are still being provided to the bulb.

Over the next few weeks, watch the progress of the dying leaves, check the bulb size and stalk firmness. When you feel the stalk get mushy, the bulb is ready to be carefully dug out of the ground.

Overall, the turbans and artichokes produced the largest bulbs for me. I had good production from Creoles, but bad results (small plants, tiny bulbs) from the silverskins and Asiatics I grew. As of early June, I was still growing some porcelain and rocambole plants to see if they bulbed before July. The rocamboles hadn't begun, but the porcelains had.

After digging your garlic, store it in the shade for three to four weeks. You can clean the garlic when you harvest it, or after you've cured it. Curing dehydrates the garlic a little, concentrating the flavor. After curing, storing the garlic in a cold, humid place (such as a vegetable drawer) will allow it to keep for the longest time.

Seed garlic sources: Filaree Farm, Garlic Seed Foundation, Seed Savers Exchange, The Garlic Store.

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Angela Adams participates in Yuma's Master Gardener program, is the president of the Pecan Grove Garden Club and is one of the volunteer writers this summer. She can be reached at dangela4700@mac.com.