Garlic might be the easiest vegetable you can grow, and the most rewarding.

I’ve always liked food flavored with garlic but when I tried cooking with store-bought bulbs, the flavor was bitter, and sometimes hot. I learned that most of the bulbs on the shelf were “soft-neck” types. Grocers like to stock soft-necks because they have a long shelf-life. Even though the bulbs are firm and seem fresh, they can be up to 18 months old! Time to grow my own.

A quick web search reveals a few garlic bulb grower/suppliers, and a wide world of choices. You can choose between soft-neck or hard-neck types. The neck is the central flower spike that gets cut off at harvest. Soft neck bulbs have more cloves. Hard-neck bulbs have fewer, larger cloves. I’ve grown both side by side and prefer the hard-necks for their flavor.

Then there is Elephant garlic. It’s more of a leek that forms a bulb. The flavor is mild and sweet and my favorite. I’ve bought bulbs from garlic suppliers but found that the store-bought bulbs cost less and grow just as well.

Some experts insist that you must refrigerate the bulbs for several weeks before planting to make them form bulbs. In the 30 years of planting in S. Florida, I tried that once it without a significant difference.

I plant the bulbs as soon as they are available in the fall, often the first week in November. Then it is a race to harvest them in April or May, before rainy season starts. I’ve left them in the ground later to see what happens and they all simply rot.

The garlic is sweetest and most flavorful when picked young, usually before it forms a bulb.