Welcome to Growing-Garlic, a site dedicated to those who are misunderstood in their love
for and devotion to (hardneck) Garlic. Presently our production is intended to stay small
and limited in scope in an effort to preserve our garlic quality.

For the past ten years, we have experimented with our small field of Porcelain garlic and
Music garlic bulbs, and selling them locally at Maple Ridge, which is ten miles west of
Alpena, MI. We have increased our garlic harvest and now have just shy of 10,000 bulbs in
the ground.

While growing garlic we have NEVER utilized herbicides or pesticides of any kind, organic
or not. Weed prevention and removal is performed by hand or with mulch or tilling; our
garlic is, for the most part, pest free (read growing section). We intend to stay small,
and only recently, (this year in fact) have we planted new types of garlic to including
Ukrainian, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, and Persian. All of our present garlic production
was chosen with love and care by our buyer in Saugerties, NY. All of our strains originate
from growers selling at the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival.

Our original garlic growing started with about a hundred heads, and was intended as an
overzealous hobby. When we realized about five years ago that we had too much production
to eat and give away (my bad), we started selling small quantities of fresh garlic out of
our office and at the local farmers market.

Well you know the rest of the story…People said "this garlic is great, where did you get
it??"...."I never had fresh garlic before, now I can't buy the store stuff, I hate
you....gimme more fresh garlic"….Even now in March people we don't know come to our office
requesting more "fresh" garlic, and routinely we send them, in a now depressed state, off
to the local grocery for the Russian roulette of mostly foreign (Chinese, Argentinean,
Mexican) softneck varieties of garlic.

Our internet stock is limited and graded like our planting stock (see harvesting/grading
section). Smaller bulb stock is available (but read planting section to understand why
bigger is better).One of the desired traits of our types of growing garlic is that their
head and clove size are larger than the typical garlic available in stores although clove
count is less (3-5 per head). The latter is why cooks love this type of garlic; easy peel,
and one clove equals 2-3 "normal" garlic cloves.

One question that always comes up when individuals purchase garlic online is "why the hell
is it so expensive????" Fair question, and the answer is, essentially, for three reasons;
1) Our garlic is organic, 2) Because it is organic, it's labor intensive, all our garlic
stock is cultivated by hand only, and 3) Most importantly, though, is the type of garlic.
The latter is the most relevant especially to the novice or first time garlic buyer.
Hardneck garlic is different than the store bought as the above paragraph details clove
size and counts are different. (Here comes the science and math, sorry)  

Garlic is propagated most reliably and readily by planting cloves (see planting section).
Commercial types are usually softnecks which contain around a dozen cloves, ours have 3-
5colves….lets say you have 120 plants of softneck and wish to continue growing 120 plants
each year. You save 10 heads for replanting, break up the (12) cloves and voila, you
replant 120 plants 10x12=120,   (and have your way with the other 110 bulbs or 1000 or so
cloves).

If you're planting hardneck, the math is depressing, to grow 120 plants you need 30-40 or
more heads., that means you only have 80-90 left to enjoy. Plus you must remember that big
farms (foreign?) use lots of chemicals to increase yield; that's a serious consideration.
So let's summarize; quality, attention to detail, and lower production…. All of that means
more cost to produce.

If you can find local garlic at a place like Whole Foods or specialty markets its price is
in the $7-$8 range per pound. Our cost at the Garlic Fest was about the same. Our online
offerings are preferred sizes as a rule, in other words our online stock is the same grade
WE plant... Not small stuff.

Our objective is to offer the home gardener quality planting stock for growing garlic.
Most of the garlic you will find online is intended for this purpose. All of these are of
course EDIBLE...but our intent and your goal should be with our assistance, to reliably
grow your own unique type of garlic at home, for use or sale. Once we experienced this
type of garlic, we were spoiled.

Most people will live their entire life never having tasted FRESH garlic much less fresh
hardneck garlic. The vast majority really could care less, lacking the desire or
curiosity, the love of, and ability to perceive the difference of; FRESH GROWN garlic, in
cooking and from the garden. To those of you who care, we are here to serve you and get
you started growing garlic. Enjoy!

~~ Dr. Richard Chura ~~

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