Today, the elephant garlic were planted in the Front Garden. Elephant garlic (allium ampeloprasum) are easy to grow. When planting, they are normally planted without much effort; and given little care. A small hole is dug and they are placed in. The soil in the front of the house (or Front Garden) is worked minimally. Despite the soil being closer to dirt, the bulbs produced at the end of the season are good sized.

advertisement

Now after a few seasons, compost is added to the soil. Today’s planting was therefore a little different from the past as far as the amount of work required goes. Despite the increase in the time required, the planting strategy remained the same. In the Front Garden, the elephant garlic (along with anything planted out there) are planted not in uniform rows but semi-organically. Out there, they are both a landscape element and crop.

The elephant garlic from this year’s harvest are loaded onto a bow rake and cured.

One of the larger elephant garlic cloves.