elephant garlic
It’s time to plant garlic in Wellington. If you fancy a change, try planting some elephant garlic at the same time. It’s larger and milder than ordinary garlic. It’s said not to keep as well, but this is a recent photo of both types I dug earlier in the year and neither has deteriorated yet. Chinese garlic is fumigated with methyl bromide by law, so that may influence whether you buy it in future.
You can sow broad beans now too. It will pay to put out some mouse traps before you sow. I bait them with peanut butter. You’ll soon discover if you too are suffering from a plague of mice. They’ll eat every broad bean seed you sow before it emerges and you may need to resort to getting the seeds started in pots. Even dwarf broad beans get blown about in Wellington so they’ll need some support once they emerge.
It’s sweet chestnut time so this chestnut and chocolate cake is ideal. This recipe is from ‘The River Cottage Year’ cook book. There are wonderful fresh chestnuts for sale at the crossroads in Ohariu Valley.
How long is it before garlic starts showing above the soil?
It can be a while in these temperatures before you see any signs of life from your garlic – also depends on how deep you planted it. I haven’t seen mine yet (planted mid May). Once we get a few warm days it will soon be away though.
Rachel,
I purchased some very large garlic bulbs from Simply Organics last week and thought I had found some amazing large ones. Do you think I have bought elephant garlic and will it be just as good in my cooking? Do you think I should find some normal ones too – where do you get yours?
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
It’s possible you’ve bought elephant garlic, but you can still plant it in the same way as ordinary garlic. I save my garlic year to year – if you buy some fresh New Zealand garlic, you can plant it and keep the best bulbs for future years. Just avoid the imported bulbs – usually from China.
Regards, Rachel