Garlic Time Again

It's time to plant garlic again! The last garlic crop did quite well so I'm encouraged to try more varieties this year. They did quite well in my gritty native soil last season I'm planting them in the same part of the garden instead of in the new fenced-in vegetable garden. I've turned the soil in the area where I had the Crimson Flowered Favas and I'm going to amend with bone meal, sulfate of potash, chicken manure and compost.

I have eight little brown paper bags from Filaree Farm sitting on the desk. This year I remembered to order my garlic early so I got a nice variety and found a few that I missed out on last year because I waited until too late to place an order.

This year the new varieties are:

Ajo Rojo (Creole)
Chengdu #8 (Turban)
Chopaka Mountain (Artichoke)
Labera Purple (Creole)
Pskem (Marbled Purple Striped)
Silver White (Silverskin)
Yugoslavian (Rocambole)
Zemo (Porcelain)

I've also set aside some of the last garlic crop ( Broadleaf Czech, Tochliavri, Georgian Crystal). With only a quarter pound each of just three varieties I didn't harvest much green garlic last year so next spring I hope to be enjoying a lot more of it.

One of the first dishes I cooked with the fresh crop was roasted garlic.

Roasted Garlic

Use a whole clean head of very fresh garlic. Don't even think of making this with old sprouting garlic. Cut off the top quarter of the head. Place root end down in a small roasting dish or ramekin or terra cotta cazuela and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Add stock or white wine or water to come up 1/4 inch. Add a small branch of thyme or not as desired. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast in a 375 F. degree oven for about 30 minutes. Serve warm with bread or toast.