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Garlic Pre-orders begin April 16th

Every Bulb sold at Edn Farms is Hand Harvested right here.

Edn Farms keeps its promises: you'll never wonder where the garlic you love comes from. Every bulb is hand planted and grown right here on our farm in Wisconsin. We'll never sell garlic that has to be chemically treated to make the journey across the ocean on a freighter.

GET PLANTING!

We have seed size garlic for growing at home and we love helping new growers get started.

SHOP SEED GARLIC

Boost Immune Health

Edn Farm's Garlic has becom famous for boosting immunity and growing the healthiest garlic on the planet.

SHOP HEALTHIEST GARLIC

Best Garlic Guides Ever

Following these simple steps will help you experience growing the best and most beneficial garlic imaginable, impressing your loved ones with flavor and having fun while growing it!


Table of Contents:

  1. Calculate amounts to plant
  2. Order early from EDN FARMS
  3. Get a soil test
  4. Amend soil
  5. Plant timing and Vodka bath
  6. Plant and cover with straw
  7. Wait to spring fertilize and weed
  8. Cut Scapes
  9. Order early from EDN FARMS for next season
  10. Harvest and cure


Tools required:

  • One or two hands
  • A small spade or hand trowel


  1. Calculate How Much to Grow. Determine what you want your varieties, yield, and your allotted growing space to be. EDN Farms gives vivid varietal descriptions to help match you to the varietals you want, but don't be afraid to explore! Figure out how much you might want to grow, then add a bit more, being realistic regarding your growing space. Hardnecks typically do not store as long as Softnecks, but we provide helpful suggestions on how to store a supply of gourmet garlic year round.
  2. Order Your Bulbs from EDN Farms. It is important to purchase your seed cloves from a responsible grower. We believe that responsible gourmet garlic growers produce as organically as possible if not beyond organic like us. Whether or not they choose to become certified, they will keep records of their processes that they are proud to provide.  As you await your glorious planting day, you are going to need a place to store the bulbs you've ordered once they arrive. Choose a cool, dry place, out of sunlight, between 50 and 65 degrees F and 50 and 65% humidity as premature sprouting could occur. We highly recommend storing in mesh bags or paper bags with the bag top left open. Keep them separated and identified throughout every process for maximum value.
  3. Get a Soil Test. We always recommend having a soil test done, collecting at least a 2 cup sample ranging from 0" to 8" depth and mixed from various spots in your planned growing area, then mailed to a lab for testing. If your state's lab does not have recommendations for garlic specifically, we suggest that you find a lab that does. The lab's recommendations will probably be in "PPA" (pounds per acre). Your trusted garden center or fertilizer representative will calculate your required amendments. Buy 20% more soil amendments than required before planting and save it for a spring booster application. Amend your soil as necessary; making sure you have plenty of potassium, as it effects bulb size.
  4. Amend Soil. When adding your recommended soil amendments, till or hoe to loosen your soil, to give your bulbs room to grow and expand. If you leave your soil "no-till", your bulbs will suffer, period. At EDN Farms, we are blessed with beneficial soil factors, but even so, to ensure protection from water retention around the roots AKA "wet feet," we plant in raised row beds.
  5. Timing your Planting & Vodka Bath. Now, "wait for it... wait for it", PLANTING TIME! We realize you're anxious to "dig in", but wait. Don't break the bulbs apart and separate the cloves until planting day. Most hardneck garlic prefers a cooler climate. However, even in the hotter southern regions, hardneck garlic can be grown well. The warmer zones that don’t freeze can require some refrigeration around the 32-37F degree mark for 6 to 8 weeks. If refrigeration is necessary, you may want to separate cloves before refrigeration. For the cooler zones that typically experience 6 to 8 weeks around the 32F degree mark, just wait until planting day to separate cloves. We separate cloves by hand to prevent damage.
    We plant in mid fall or later, early enough for the roots to get established before repetitive nights of 28F degrees or below. Don't worry too much about the perfect timing; just be planted before the ground is frozen. But if you want a challenge, you can use a cordless drill with a one inch bit to drill through the frozen ground to plant.
    Other than that, it's "Vodka Time". The vodka is for your garlic!, to take a quick sanitizing bath. Maybe save a little for yourself, but this is no place for expensive vodka. Soak your unpeeled, individual cloves in vodka for 10 minutes. Remember, keep your varieties separated and labeled, especially if your cloves aren't the only ones dipping into cheap vodka! Strain your cloves out of the vodka and let them dry while you get holes in your growing space ready for planting. Using your fingers or other device, make holes just wide enough for a clove to rest; 3 inches deep and a minimum of 6.5 inches apart from each other. If using a worm tea, pour a shot (1.5 oz) into each hole.
  6. Plant and Cover with Straw. Place cloves into the holes with their root plate down and point up. Gently sweep some surrounding soil to fill in and cover the hole, then give a gentle pat. Again, remember to keep your varieties separated and identified. Place a stake, permanently labeled, with the name of the variety at the start and stop of each variety's row. It may also help to draw a map of your planting. Almost done! Cover the rows you've made with a mulch of clean weed-free wheat straw, leaves, or even corn husks. Do not place compacted flakes of straw over your garlic rows. You will not be saving time and can be asking for trouble. If using a blower/chopper, cover with a 3-inch chop length blanket of straw, 4 inches deep. Now wait for spring and start sampling any cloves you may have left over.
  7. Fertilize and Weed in the Spring. Fast forward to spring. Your planted cloves will be sending little sprouts up through the straw blanket. The time has now come for a little fertilizer boost after a long winter nap. Using the 20% extra fertilizer you've saved from "Step 3", apply the fertilizer around the base of each garlic stalk. At EDN Farms, we have a motto of "feed the plant, not the weeds". Do not fertilize any more after this early spring treatment.  Research has shown, at this stage of growth is where substantial potassium uptake occurs for maximum bulb size. Like with all growing, keep an eye on rain amounts. Your garlic is going prefer a consistent 1 inch of rain per week. Water only when necessary and not after June 21st.
    Now that we've mentioned weeds it's time to discuss weeding. We REFUSE to use ANY PESTICIDES OR HERBICIDES and we are meticulous about hand weeding, because if garlic has to compete with weeds, the weeds will win, substantially reducing garlic bulb size. There are tools and mechanical ways to weed, just keep in mind that there may be risks involved if you use them. For us, our garlic is far too valuable to risk nicking or damaging bulbs.
  8. Cut Scapes. "The scapes are coming, the scapes are coming!" If you've planted hardnecks, you're going to start seeing a curly little stalk coming out of the top of your garlic plant. These are called the scapes, and they're delicious! Only let them get long enough to do something with in the kitchen, because when they're growing, that's where the plant's energy is being directed, and we want that energy going toward developing a bigger bulb. Pinch off or cut to remove the scape once it gets one full curl. This can be the time to start removing some, if not all, of the straw mulch. If you've had a lot of rain, the mulch can hold too much moisture in the soil, potentially causing rot like "wet feet" at the finishing stage of your garlic's growing cycle. Too much moisture can also cause a muddy and messy harvest. We allow the first and last plant of each variety row to grow its scape, possibly sacrificing its bulb growth. Why? Have you ever seen the roasting turkeys with the pop-up indicators? Garlic is ready to be harvested within a few days of scape completely uncurling and pointing straight to the sky.
  9. Order Next Season’s Crop. Now that you've removed and enjoyed the scapes, maintained a relatively weed-free growing space, and realized how easy and fun this is, it's time to start thinking about next season's bounty. You can save your biggest bulbs and plant as many cloves as you wish when the time comes. Come back to EDN Farms early, to restock and add new varieties for the coming season!
  10. Harvest time. There are two ways your garlic will tell you it's time for harvest. Garlic is ready for harvest when the bottom three leaves have died back or when the scapes that were left to grow begin to uncurl and point straight to the sky. Each variety is ready at different times and we harvest each varietal only when they're ready. If you have planted softnecks, when 1/3 of your plant's leaves have yellowed and died back, it could be time to harvest.
    Now that you know when to harvest, here's how to harvest. We undercut our raised rows, using a powerful tractor and an undercutting bar to loosen the soil from beneath the roots and bulb. This makes the hand harvesting quite a bit easier and gentler on the bulb when pulling the stalk. Most smaller scale growers will use a hand tool of their choice to gently loosen the soil around each bulb. Be sure to leave enough space away from the bulb so as not to damage the bulb as you loosen the soil. Then gently pull the stalk by the base, lifting the bulb, and give it a gentle, but firm, bump to knock off some soil. Remember, keep your varieties separated from each other and identified. We suggest getting them out of the sun as quickly as possible to prevent sunburning/cooking in the sun and heat. EDN FARM, chooses to harvest early in the morning or at late evening into the night before dew sets. Be sure to remove any and all garlic plant residue from your planting area and get rid of it. Do not use it for composting. Do this to do everything you can to prevent any garlic diseases from developing in your soil. Ordering your seed clove bulbs from EDN Farms will also help disease prevention, as we send randomized quality control samples to an independent lab for disease and nematode testing. We suggest not growing alliums (garlic, onion, scallion, shallot, leek, and chive) in the same location for 2 growing seasons after harvest.

Now that your garlic is harvested, lay them out on screens OR bundle them in groups of 10 or so, and tie them up to hang in a well ventilated shaded area to cure for 4 to 6 weeks. Once cured, cut stalks to 1.5 inches above the bulb and trim roots to a 1/4 inch and they're ready to eat or store. Done!


P.S. Remember to keep your varieties separated and identified, we can't say this enough!


There are trials underway across the globe in search of the best way to store garlic fresh. EDN Farms is a participating member of these novel techniques and look forward to reporting the results of the trials. Some of the trials have concluded and we have indeed changed our recommendations of storing your fresh garlic. Buy your garlic from EDN Farms for your entire year if you can; it always sells out! Store your garlic short term (2-4 months) un-bunched in a ventilated container or a mesh bag in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated place in ambient temperatures of 68-86 degrees with a low relative humidity  (<75%). However, due to moisture loss cloves will eventually shrivel. As you get time, set aside what you intend to use within a few months or so and store them as mentioned before. You can also store your garlic in an open paper bag placed in your refrigerator crisper drawer, *** if refrigerator is set at 39 degrees or lower. Using some kind of an accurate temperature/hygrometer sensor, adjust you crisper vent so humidity remains around the 75% range.*** Then prepare the rest of your year’s worth of garlic for freezing. Doing this ensures that you will have enough to last the rest of the year. For longer term storage, lower the temperature (-1 to 4ºC or 30-39ºF, although some studies recommend storage at even colder temperatures, down to -4ºC) with low relative humidity (60- 70%) and good airflow will ensure months of high quality garlic. Higher humidity can encourage both mold growth and root growth, lower humidity will result in the bulbs drying out. Stored bulbs will continue to transpire, so adequate ventilation is needed throughout the storage period to avoid storage losses. Garlic cloves break dormancy most rapidly between 4-10ºC (40-50ºF), so to prevent premature sprouting, avoid prolonged storage at this temperature. Once removed, the cloves will want to soon start sprouting thinking its spring. We have been hearing more and more about keeping garlic frozen at precisely 29ºF and being able to plant afterwards. We will be attempting this technique ourselves before passing it along.


ALSO SEE OUR  FREEZING GARLIC SECTION


Hardneck Garlic Variety Guides

Growing garlic is an absolute joy (although we may be biased). Nothing tastes better than something you took care of and pulled out of the ground yourself.  Romanian Red, Georgian Crystal and German Extra Hardy are the favorites that we like to recommend for new or casual growers. 

Don't let us box you in, though. Any varietal that we sell would grow if you planted it. If you're looking for a more challenging grow browse our entire inventory for something to put in your garden. Just pinky promise you won't put us out of business when your crop takes off. 


Red Garlic is called such because of the pinkish/red or purplish/red pigmentations of its clove skins. Whether Romanian Red, Russian Red, Spanish Red, Chesnok Red, etc., its color doesn’t correlate to a specific flavor profile. What we can tell you about the “Reds” is that they ALL are wonderful all-around performers be it Raw, Sauteed, Baked, or Roasted. “Reds” are “Must Haves” in the professional culinary world and serious home chef’s arsenal. 


The simple truth is almost all garlic is heirloom and here is why. Garlic can mutate into a slightly different varietal than its parent and sometimes does. Unlike other crops, there is very little genetic variation between the varieties we enjoy today, and their ancestors of hundreds of years ago. Garlic reproduces asexually, which means it's “relatively” (pun intended) easy for scientists to trace the lineage of your favorite varietal.


Zesty garlic is always going to be a favorite for many people, but believe it or not, there are some people who prefer not to exhale fire through their nostrils when enjoying a garlic dish. These varieties are known for being flavorful, yet reserved when it comes to bite. If you're looking for a garlic varietal that will add a robust flavor to red sauce without the dragon's breath that follows, we recommend Georgian Crystal, Persian Star, Chesnok Red, and Music.


Our Zestiest Garlics!  Everybody loves garlic, but it's the true heat chasers that are looking for the hottest, fieriest, most eye watering bulbs in the land. Add some zip to a red sauce, or any dish. Buckle up - each of these varieties come with a one-way ticket to flavor-town. Metechi, Georgian Fire, Romanian Red, and Estonian Red getting as it matures. Keep in mind garlic become milder the longer they are cooked. 


What's the difference in Edn Farms' Organic and 100% Natural Grown?

There is none. None! All of our garlic is grown together in their fields and a bulb that was ordered as "Organic Certified" was grown right next to one that was ordered as "100% Naturally Grown." Because of the unnecessary expenses that go with the garlic sold as organic, we charge a dollar per pound extra. Now-a-days, organic certifying agencies are like big credit card banks; they want a percentage of gross sales and that gets passed on to the end user.


Edn Farms' standards are much higher than USDA Organic Standards.

There is no need for herbicides or pesticides because we carefully rotate crops, we do not plant in monocultures, and we cultivate mechanically or by hand. We farm the old way, literally! USDA Organic Standards however, allow over 20 pesticides and even more herbicides that are far more deadly toxic than synthetics. 


Purple Garlic is known for its vivid purple stirpe or marbling present on its papery skin. Most purple garlic varieties are classified as "hardneck" garlic and contain fewer but larger cloves over their softneck counterparts. Purple garlic can be more challenging and has a bit shorter shelf life. But don't be mistaken, purple garlic is rich in flavor and retains its eloquent taste longer than other varietals. These attitude-filled varieties produce cloves regarded as "juicier" with a milder bite than white garlic when fresh. 


The 3 Healthiest Garlic varieties are known here in the USA as Romanian Red, Georgian Crystal, and Siberian. In the French Mediterranean region, the 3 varieties are known as "Les Trois Cousins," translation "The Three Cousins." The French Mediterranean region is well known to have a very long human life expectancy. It is also a region being well known as where "the best" is considered "standard." It is now being realized that their "standard" Mediterranean diet is being proven to possibly be "the best." A part of that diet includes the best and most health beneficial garlics aka "Les Trois Cousins." The 3 garlics share their inherited highest allicin content and health benefits. However, the 3 garlics have their own look and behave quite differently. 


Fun Fact: 

The Three Cousins aka "Russian Penicillin"

In Russia, these “Tri Kuzena” also “The Three Cousins,” are lovingly nicknamed “Russian Penicillin” and were used both before and after Alexander Fleming’s “mould juice” discovery. Speaking of his Penicillin discovery, Fleming was quoted, “When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.” Fleming’s work made great contributions to the medical world, however, he overlooked garlic’s work as an antibiotic or bacteria killer long before his discovery.

SIDE NOTE: Ironically, a medicinal use of garlic could have prevented Fleming’s sudden death in 1955 caused by coronary thrombosis


Freezing Garlic Guides

We all know about dehydrating or making garlic powder for long-term storage, but what about freezing? The answer is ABSOLUTELY YES! Garlic is easy to freeze and it also doesn’t take up too much space in the freezer. As a result, you can always stock up on fresh garlic and freeze it so that you can cook with it all year round. Additionally, garlic can be frozen in all its forms, which gives you the freedom to play and experiment. 


You might be surprised by how many ways garlic can be frozen. You can freeze whole garlic bulbs (unpeeled), individual cloves (unpeeled or peeled), chopped or minced garlic, even make a Garlic Sorbet! One of the most important things to ensure is to choose fresh and high-quality garlic cloves prior to freezing them. If you freeze garlic cloves that have started to spoil or are about to, you will not stop the rotting process and they will not be useful for anything. Once you have assembled your garlic cloves, you can either peel them or leave them with the peel on.

Garlic can be frozen in freezer bags or any container that can be safely stored in the freezer.


Frozen garlic is as good as fresh garlic, though it’s softer. Its flavor will still be just as strong as when it was fresh. Even though its overall quality is different once frozen, homemade frozen garlic mixtures are so much better when compared to jars of peeled or chopped garlic cloves that are available in the typical grocery market.

Use your frozen garlic mixture as you would fresh garlic. There is no need to thaw it beforehand; it’s actually better if you don’t. It is very easy to chop frozen garlic and even easier to grate, so you can simply add it into the dish you’re making.


Yes, you can freeze whole, unpeeled garlic bulbs. Freezing the whole bulb is great for those who are looking to use a lot of garlic in their future recipes and dishes. Freezing garlic will make the fresh garlic lose its original firm texture. Once the garlic freezes, the peels come off easily but think ahead to your typical meal prep. If you're usually short on time, it might be worth the effort to peel cloves before freezing.

For a whole bulb of garlic, make sure to check if they are good enough to be frozen (fresh garlic will feel firm and does not have wet spots, mold, or have green shoots).


We know that peeled garlic cloves and whole garlic bulbs can be frozen, but can finely chopped garlic or minced garlic be frozen? The answer to that is another big YES! In fact, we have more customers report the technique below is their favorite way to freeze their garlic because of how easy it is to use later.

How do you freeze chopped/minced garlic?

You can chop already peeled cloves and place them into snack-size bags which will result in a frozen thin layer. That can easily be broken off when needed.

Here is a more thorough step-by-step guide on how to freeze chopped/minced garlic:

  1. Get fresh garlic bulbs
  2. Peel garlic cloves
  3. Chop the garlic cloves — Add the peeled garlic cloves to a blender or food processor until they are evenly chopped or minced. You may add a few drops, of water between pulses if necessary.
  4. Place mixture in a pan – Place a plastic wrap on top of a shallow pan or baking sheet pan, and simply spread the minced garlic evenly over the pan to make it smooth and flat.
  5. Cut accordingly – You may cut the flat minced garlic mixture into measurements with a chopper tool or large knife, according to your liking.
  6. Cover the pan – Cover the pan with a lid or some plastic and place it in the freezer. Wait for it to turn solid (at least 4 hours).
  7. Cut and place in freezer bags – Following your measurements, cut the frozen grid into 4 large rectangles, wrap them each in plastic and place them in a resealable freezer bag.
  8. Use – Easily break off the needed amount of frozen garlic.


Answer: Absolutely YES! It is just fine to freeze roasted garlic and then thaw or warm for later enjoyment.  We keep frozen roasted garlic on hand for convenience when preparing recipes like our famous Roasted Romanian Red Creamy Alfredo Sauce. But there's a big rule that should not be forgotten: Do Not roast once frozen garlic. Plump garlic cloves contain water and when water freezes it expands. The expansion disrupts the clove's cellular structure and does not benefit the roasting process. 


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