Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers

What a great book! I appreciate how much detail the author goes into on his process, especially since he is a commercial grower. Normally those things are kept secret or glossed over and not very much help. He gives some really nice excerpts from his journal as well during the different seasons, highlighting problems he experiences or how things are coming along at various week intervals to help judge your own gardens progress. The thing I also found very helpful was information on modifying soil to be proper for garlic down to fertilizer types, and even amounts per acre. This makes it easy for me to calculate exactly what I need to amend my garden. One thing that made me hesitate purchasing this book were some of the negative reviews about the authors "know it all tone and hippy attitude." After reading it, I just realize that this man has a very advanced knowledge of permaculture and how the earth, crops, and animals work together as a system. His tone (in my opinion) also has a very "matter of act" manner about it, which maybe some attribute to being a know it all. As someone who's spent a lot of time in classrooms reading very dry textbooks, he just sounds like a teacher. Like any book, every author has their own views and ways to do things. That's what they've written about. This book is solid and has everything you need to know really on how to start growing garlic. I disagreed with a few things like bed preparation and spacing, but like anything in life you should take what someone says and see how to make it right for you. Sometimes that means changing a few things...That by no means makes the text useless. I have since come to reference this book quite heavily, and have highlighted sections on watering schedules and requirements, soil and compost amendment amounts, fertilizer preparation before planting, and a whole bunch more. This poor book is holding up well though.

Full of valuable information and the chapters cover a lot of information. The Glossary helps with new terms and the referenced articles in the bibliography point you to additional learning.

I wished that I had this book when I FIRST started in garlic. What varieties to grow, how to grow, how to improve the soil so I'd get larger and healthier garlic. That is why we grow garlic, right! We want to make our bodies healthier so putting healthy vegetables in us makes us healthier. How deep to put the clove, what diseases to check for and how to keep pests away. Important, what types of MULCH works best and how deep it should be. It's all in here a loads more.

Good basis for home grower. A bit dated, but still relevant.

I am an avid home garlic grower, and wanted to learn more about growing garlic well. This book is well written and is straightforward to read. The author is from North Central Washington state. As a fellow Washingtonian, the book really was helpful as our climate is not too different from the author's. He does a great job explaining how garlic develops, how to plant, harvest, and even market your garlic if you wish. As I now understand how garlic develops, I will be making some modifications to how I plant, grow, and harvest in the future.

There's a lot of life in this book written by someone who grows garlic for a living. The part diary and part how-to-text has a personable, down to earth, writing style without any rambling. The book's advice and glossary sections will definitely be helpful to both novice and experienced growers. The maps showing trade and historical distribution routes are interesting and to the point. While there aren't any cooking recipes, it does include an endearing poem by the author titled, "My Little Clove."

This book is a treasure trove of information on growing garlic on a farmer's market commercial scale (the author is one of the founders of Filaree Garlic Farm, which grows some of the BEST seed garlic available to the home gardener) in the cold and semi-desert northwestern US. It's not directly suitable for the southern or eastern grower or the home gardener. That's not to say that it's a bad book - far from it - but be prepared to wade through many, many pages and make lots of modifications to use it on the home scale. You'll also (get?) to read through some remarkably detailed descriptions of cultivation experiments that would have been better suited for publication in a horticulture journal. Again, good stuff, but maybe not what you're looking for.

Very through coverage of the whole garlic process from selection for location to planting to harvest

Thought written already year 1991 this book still stands in a very forefront off all garlic-books. An absolute guideline for all organic gardeners and smale scale growers. An Engelands humour is also a kind to note. Also Ted Jordan Meredith looked upward to Engeland when he wrote his "The Complete Book of Garlic." Engeland teachings are very suitable for organic growers in Finland too.

This is the best book I’ve read about garlic. Everything from the history of garlic to everything you could ever want to know about growing and marketing your own garlic. A bit dated but the information is good.

A purchase I am glad I made , I have grown garlic for many years and always felt it could be better , I also had questions . I am passionate about growing garlic and this book is very informative , very organized you know a lot of thought went into this book. Weather your a back yard gardener or growing for market all your questions are addressed in this book 👍

Happy with this book. So much information to take in. Will read again to gather the info together. The author is very knowledgeable about the subject of garlic.

An excellent book. Grabbed me from the outset. I love growing garlic and this book is a great help.