Garlic id

10 years ago

Hoping someone can help with id on this. Plant is almost 5 ft tall from ground to tip of the bulb looking spike. Neighbor gave it to me last year, it didn't freeze here in zone 7. Leaves are fm 1 to 2 inches wide. I slice straight down and pull up whole piece, looks like a huge green onion with bulb on bottom, it's mild garlic flavor, I clean it like a green onion and use all parts except bottom root for cooking. Started with a 3 piece clump last year, it multiplied to 25 or so not counting the ones I have gathered. I'm gonna leave the ones with spikes to see what the spikes do, they feel knobby like they might be full of seed. Wonderful addition to garden, might put some on the trading forum this fall.

Comments (7)

jadeite
10 years ago
It looks like elephant garlic to me. We had a few of these come up last year, our first in NM. The spikes opened into a large globe-shaped flower, similar to a flowering allium. I think it was white. When this happened, I pulled up the whole plant, and the bulb at the bottom was elephant garlic.

Cheryl
AiliDeSpain
10 years ago
I was going to say that it looks more like an onion flower than a garlic scape. Garlic scapes curl down and don't grow straight up like that from what I understand and from what I have seen in my own garden.
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Mark
10 years ago
I agree with Cheryl, it looks like elephant garlic which is closely related to leek. If you let it go till July and dig it when the tops start to yellow a bit, it should look like a huge garlic.

-Mark
nancy.jo
Original Author
10 years ago
It's NOT an elephant garlic, I have those in my garden also, I bought them. This plant does NOT make bulbs, I went from a three plant clump my neighbor gave me last year to 25 plants this spring. They never made cloves, they still were like green onion shaped this spring. They are very tasty but MILD, not strong at all. Do leeks make cloves like garlic or do they stay looking like they look in the store? It might possibly be leeks? The top is very tall and the seed head is about as big around as a quarter with that long spike going up to the top. Any more clues or ideas?
planatus
10 years ago
Are the leaves flat like garlic or round like green onions? If they are flat you probably do have a leek. One thing leeks do that seems unique is to grow little plantlets on the outside of the shank. At first the plantlets lie right up against the mother plant, with little "pearls" down below that develop their own roots. Might be a sign to watch for. Overwintered leeks often develop a small swelling right at the base, just above the roots, but it's not really a bulb.
kristincarol
10 years ago
What about Egyptian aka Walking Onions?
seysonn
10 years ago
Leek are only planted from seeds. They do not make a REAL bulb like onions or garlics, instead they grow thick stem. Althou they have flat leaves like garlic but they are more like onions, even milder than the sweetest onion.

The scapes flower like onions (globe shaped) and produce seeds. For a leek to be the size shown in the picture, it must be about t two years old. First year they look like garlic chive, or a little wider leaves.