Elephant Garlic Corms

12 x elephant garlic corms

Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum

Elephant garlic is an excellent and easy crop to grow, it is very hardy and requires little to no effort. More closely related to leeks than garlic, elephant garlic produces very large cloves with a lovely mild leek like flavour and is less likely to suffer from problems with rust.

Growing corms is the most cost effective way to increase your crop of Elephant Garlic, but will take a couple of seasons.

A corm will grow into a ‘round’ in the first season (second photo), a round looks like a small onion as it has not split into cloves, in the second season plant the round and it will develop either into a larger round or an elephant garlic bulb made up of 4-6 cloves and more corms.

Growing Corms:

Season One: In May, scratch/score and then soak corms in rainwater for a couple of days before planting (can add liquid seaweed for a wee boost) plant in good fertile soil, foliar feed regularly for good growth. By end of season corms should have developed into an onion looking bulb (a ‘round’) these can be eaten or keep to plant next season.

Season Two: Plant the round in May at 12" spacing in fertile soil, plants benefit from a good mulch, foliar feeding and good soil moisture. Snap off any flower scapes that develop. Harvest once the leaves turn yellow and dry. Either a large round or bulb should have developed, if bulbed, dry and keep intact until you want to eat or plant the cloves. If a large round, dry and either eat as you would any garlic or keep for planting again - a large round often develops into a very large bulb.