Garlic bulbils: An inexpensive way to increase seed stock

If you've wanted an inexpensive way to increase your seed stock without spending a lot, grow garlic bulbils.

We started these Korean Red garlic rounds and bulbs in the fall--and they all grew from a few bulbil capsules. We probably harvested 100 bulbs and rounds. We'll plant them all this October. By the third year, we'll probably have 400 to 600 garlic bulbs. And they all will have. originated from garlic bulbils that sell for about $3 per capsule. How cool is that?

So many garlics...

The first signs of fall signal it's time to get ready for planting.  By now we pretty much know which garlic varieties, and how much, to grow for next year.

Choosing, however, isn't easy. There's a dizzying array when it comes to garlic. Hot ones, mild ones, spicy ones, gigantic ones, small ones, striped ones, purple splotched ones, ones for hot and cold climates--over 150 varieties. And the descriptions always look so tantalizing, we sometimes want to try them all at the same time! Still, in any given year, only so much can be planted. That's true whether you're a farmer or an urban gardener.

Three bulbs of Estonian Red garlic.

This year we'll be tilling enough ground to plant 200 pounds of prime garlic seed, with areas for garlic bulbils and green garlic. We'll be planting large quantities of some of the favorites we grew this year, such as Khabar, Georgian Crystal, Inchelium Red, Siberian, Estonian Red--a very rare garlic that, in the right conditions, can grow to almost baseball size--and Chesnok Red. Plus we'll be trying a few new varieties, like German Extra Hardy. Our German Extra Hardy seed stock comes from a local grower, and it's got some serious size on it.

The fun starts next week with preparation for planting, if everything goes according to plan. We'll keep you posted on how things go. 

Big Garlic Flavor Comes From Small Bulbs

A big clove from a small purple stripe garlic bulb. 

It's true: Size doesn't matter, at least not when it comes to cooking and heirloom gourmet garlic.

Small heirloom bulbs can yield garlic cloves as thick as your thumb or thicker. And those cloves are packed full of garlic flavor. We know some professional chefs who prefer smaller garlic bulbs because they believe the flavor's more intense and concentrated.

Thick garlic cloves from the small bulb shown in the background.

We use cloves from small bulbs when we cook at the farm, and we sell them, too, as culinary garlic. We also plant cloves from smaller bulbs to grow as green garlic.

Don't get us wrong--we love growing big garlic bulbs. They're wonderful for seed. But good things really do come in small packages. And when it comes to cooking, that includes heirloom gourmet garlic.