Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-662
Rocambole
Allium sativum
Rocambole is the hardneck strain of garlic, easy to spot by the stiff flower stalk that curls as it grows and carries a head of small, strongly flavoured bulbils. One plant gives four separate foods - the bulb, the bulbils, the mild leaves and flowers, and the curled flower stalk itself, cut young as a garlicky vegetable that softneck garlic never produces. It needs a real winter chill followed by lengthening spring days before the bulb will split into cloves, and it stores far worse than softneck garlic, so it suits a kitchen that uses it up within months rather than one that wants a year's supply on the shelf.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 4–9
- Soil
- Sand · Silt · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Rhizosphere- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 18–24 in
- Mature spread
- 6–9 in
- Plant spacing
- 6–8 in
- Root type
- Bulb
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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Daikon
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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