Garlic

Meet garlic, the plant you put in the ground in November and almost forget. A single clove sends up a green blade, then a row of them, and for months the bed looks like nothing much is happening.

Its character is quiet and dependable. It asks for sun, steady water and a bed that drains, takes up a hand's width of space, and then rewards you with a whole bulb for every clove you planted.

What it brings is the satisfaction of a long game. By April the leaves have browned, you lift the bulbs, hang them somewhere airy and shaded, and have garlic you grew yourself, from soil you prepared, for the months ahead.

Garlic is the longest commitment in the winter bed. The UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment's planting calendar lists it for November and gives 180 days to harvest, which puts the lifting in April to May. UF/IFAS says garlic does not produce seed, so it is propagated by dividing a bulb into cloves and planting those, and that it can be planted from late fall through early winter in Florida. It suggests soft-necked varieties such as 'Artichoke' or 'Creole' for Florida gardens.

NC State Extension gives the working details: loose, fertile, well-drained soil in full sun, cloves 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) apart and 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm) deep, and a mulch to hold back weeds. Water and feed regularly, then cut back on watering before harvest, because bulbs rot in soil that is too wet. Removing the flower stem, or scape, makes the bulb larger. Harvest when about half of the leaves have turned brown or dried and bent towards the ground, cure the bulbs somewhere dry and shaded, and then trim and store them in a cool, dry place without refrigerating (NC State, UF/IFAS).

FAO's salinity table gives garlic a yield threshold of about 3.9 dS/m and rates it moderately sensitive, noticeably more forgiving than onion's 1.2 dS/m. Even so, a raised bed of sweet soil and compost is the safer base in Dubai, where the native sand carries too much salt (Dubai Garden Centre, via The National). Garlic is a small, upright plant, so a few rows share a bed with other winter crops.