Easy-to-grow spring planting hardnecks and softnecks
Here’s an ideal way for beginners to start growing veg – four varieties of potted garlic plants from Dobies. Grow them in beds and borders, raised beds or pots – you don’t even need a garden! Hardneck and softneck varieties are included; they’re easy to care for and are hardy down to -15C.
Roast the bulbs whole and enjoy them soft with a milder flavour, or mince and chop the cloves to bring out a more intense taste, or add to oils and vinegar.
Garlic Tuscany Wight (Softneck)
Originating in Tuscany, this large white garlic is a late type with big, fat cloves. Hang in the kitchen for up to eight months and use it for anything from garlic bread to 40-clove chicken. There are 12-18 cloves per bulb, harvested mid-June to August. Plant in March. Six x 9cm potted plants cost £10.99.
Garlic Rhapsody Wight (Softneck)
Large purple bulbs with very wide leafy growth. Fresh, zingy flavours perfect in a salad. The first taste of the new season garlic. Bright, large bulbs that lift themselves out of the ground as they swell, exposing deep purple streaks and mottling. Originating in Cadours, west of Toulouse, south-west France, as Violet de Cadours. This is the first true garlic of the season. There are 5-12 cloves per bulb, harvest May-June. Plant in March. Six x 9cm potted plants cost £10.99.
Garlic Carcassonne Wight (Hardneck)
Pink cloved hardneck garlic is the most successful of all hardnecks in the UK, with good skin cover, great strength of flavour and a superior bouquet and character. This variety was probably brought to Carcassonne by pilgrims travelling from the east on their way to Compostela in Spain. There are 10-12 cloves per bulb, harvest June-July. Plant in March. Six x 9cm potted plants cost £10.99.
Garlic Caulk Wight (Hardneck)
Selected from the best purple stripe garlic found in Russia and Eastern Europe. A large-cloved, easy-peeling, vigorous variety, they grow well in the UK climate and can withstand temperatures down to -20C. It has distinctive, dark green, vigorous, wide leaves, and the bulb is enclosed in tight leaf wrappers. This avoids the pitfall of many hardneck types in our climate, of splitting and opening out. Produces tight, firm bulbs, ready at the end of June. When dried, this variety produces beautiful marbled purple stripe bulbs.
Garlic growing information
When planting, gently tease the roots apart and plant into beds that have had extra manure added in winter. Plant at the same level as in the pot. For comprehensive growing information and how to deal with pests and diseases, see my Garlic Cultivation Guide. Hardneck garlic plants will produce scapes – tall flower spikes – which are a delicacy in France, with a nutty, mild garlic flavour. Use them as you would chives or roast/barbecue like garlicky asparagus.
Save £3 on a mixed selection of 18 x 9cm of potted garlic plants from Tuscany Wight, Rhapsody Wight, Carcassonne Wight and Caulk Wight. Harvest June-August. Supplied in 9cm pots, price £24. For more information on potted garlic plants from Dobies, visit www.dobies.co.uk.
