Seed Garlic
Have you failed growing garlic? I have. No matter what I did, the stuff I bought at the store just didn’t turn out right.
My failure led me to research. And my research revealed there are hundreds of varieties of garlic in the world… but I could only ever find one in garden stores.
So I began a search, that turned into a hobby, and grew into an obsession. Each year, I seek out new varieties and grow them on with the aim of supplying home growers with better garlic. Especially garlic that will flourish in Northland’s climate and conditions.
In 2021 I was set to offer my biggest harvest to growers – and then I got hit by rust. Long story short, I am still recovering from that.
In 2023, I am growing around 400 garlic plants in 6 varieties. If all goes well, some will be available to growers in 2024.
Join the mailing list below if you’d like to know when seed garlic goes on sale.
Sorry, no garlic for sale in 2023.
The Varieties
Long-term performers
Hardneck Creole (‘Ajo Roja’)
This is a garlic for garlic lovers. It’s a spicy, strong garlic with red skins that deepen to purple as they dry. If you’re looking to take advantage of the medicinal benefits of garlic, this is the one for you.
Ajo Roja is a hard-necked garlic, meaning it produces scapes (flowers) in late spring. These should be removed to concentrate growth into the bulb. See the note on scapes below for ideas on how to eat them.
Despite being a hard necked garlic, it is one of our better keepers and is the last to be planted in our rotation.
It seems to show some resistance to rust. It’s been the last one to be affected, and goes down a little slower than all the others. That said, it still goes down.
I’ve been growing my stock of Ajo Roja continuously in Northland for 6 seasons now.
Softneck Artichoke (‘Takahue’)
Reportedly bought to the gumfields of Doubtless Bay in the 1800’s by gumdiggers, Takahue is the most reliable garlic we have.
It produces large bulbs with white skins and purple stripes. It can get so big you’d swear it was elephant garlic. But it’s not. It’s a soft-necked garlic, meaning it can be plaited and stores well.
Taste-wise, it’s pretty close to what you’d get from the supermarket. It’s easy to peel and work with in the kitchen too.
A good one to start with if you’d like to supply your household with reliable homegrown garlic throughout the year. We’ve been growing it for 6 years now.
Hardneck Turban (‘White Rocambole’)
Sold by other vendors as ‘White Rocambole’, it’s fairly widely accepted that this variety is actually a turban.
Turbans are wonderful performers in Northland. The best for smaller gardens or containers as it has a smaller footprint and matures in 5 months, rather than the standard 6.
A pure-white hard-necked garlic with surprisingly chunky cloves for its size. It will also produce scapes in late spring which you can cut off and use in cooking. Usually quite easy to peel.
The problem with the turbans is they don’t store very well and are the first to shoot. They can be peeled and frozen if you want to keep it past autumn.
This is my fifth season growing White Turban.
The New Guys
Early Purple Rocombole
The only experiment in 2022. Sourced via Setha’s Seeds, I’ve been wanting this one in my collection for years.
A companion to ‘White Rocombole’, it should also take 5 months to mature. Hard-necked with light purple skins.
Spanish Red
Grown for the first time in 2021, Spanish Red outperformed everything else! It came to me from Blue Terrace Garlic in Dunedin, and I highly recommend favouriting their TradeMe profile page if you are looking for seed garlic.
In my garden, Spanish Red came out white. We’ll be growing it on again to see what happens.
Russian Red
Sourced via Mitre 10 in 2021, Russian Red was the first commercially-sourced garlic I’ve ever grown that actually worked – even despite rust in 2021.
It was a bit slow to start, but produced good-sized bulbs with large cloves and has earned a spot in the collection.
How to grow garlic
Everything I know about planting garlic
In this post, I try to think of everything I do before planting to make my own grows successful.
Includes prepping your soil, selecting seed cloves, when to plant, spacing, and tools.
Everything I know about looking after garlic
Garlic takes up to 6 months to grow. Something that takes half a year is going to require a little maintenance.
In this post, I cover mulching, weeding, spraying, fertilising, and what to do about your scapes.