I'm trying a couple of softneck varieties this year: Germidour and Cristo. I basically read a load of "best garlic to grow" articles online and picked a couple that were easy to get hold of. I prefer to plant mine in autumn for an early crop - plus some varieties don't split into cloves reliably unless they get plenty of cold.
I have found that the best results come form matching garlic to your soil type...the best resusts for me are from Albigensian Wight, this is a soft neck variety thatcan be planted either autumn or spring.
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I am gonna have a look around.
Psst, what are scapes?
Scapes are the flowering stems of the bulb, they can be eaten.
I like to chop scapes up in stir fry or if you fancy you can make a kind of pesto out of them
I like to chop them up really small and dry them long and low in the oven until they are crunchy, then blend them to create a fine powder. This is lovely over buttered toast as a quick garlic bread, or as a seasoning on top of a soup. It’s really versatile and lasts really well.
You lot are a bad influence - all this talk of scapes has induced me to order some hardneck garlic (Carcassone). Always room in the veg bed for a bit more garlic - or I could plant it around the roses!
Around the roses sounds as like a plan eyren, also have a look at elephant garlic, I think you have to leave it to flower so you should get some lovely allium type flowers, then you can dig it up and re plant some cloves for more of them in future and use some for cooking.