Why do I keep trying to grow hard neck garlic?
Well, it's because hard neck garlic is said to be more flavorful, and the cloves are bigger and easier to peel! Or it is for thescapes I think, or because they are different from what we can buy locally. If I am honest, it's possibly for the challenge, and by May I`m usually saying it's off the next years list.
With names like ‘Siberian,' ‘Romanian', and ‘Chesnook', you might think they grow better in colder climates, and that's true, but some, like the Creoles 'Ajo Rojo', 'Burgundy', and 'Creole Red' varieties from the Mediterranean of climates of Spain, Italy and France may worth the effort.
The plants are somewhat low growing, with broad leaves, and the bulbs can be medium sized, with sturdy, white wrappers and cloves of magenta, deep purple, or white.
So, in December I finally set out some chilled cloves in large containers with potting mix, some balanced vegetable fertilizer, and some bone meal. I garden on a steep, clay slope, terraced with hard surfaces, so I have experimented with a variety of containers. This year I am using 18×18×18-inch sub-irrigation planters, and 15 gallon grow bags. I plant two inches deep and four inches apart but being more generous (and less greedy) might be better.
This is not the hard part for those of us in warm climates. Several weeks of chilling (“vernalization” helps). When days are warm while the plants are bulbing, cooler nights and mulching keeps the soil temperatures lower, and the plants bulbing longer, as the days continue to lengthen in May and June.
At least that is what I've read, but I've only got large bulbs once or twice.