![Growing organic seed garlic in British Columbia, Canada](images/henry-walking3.jpg) |
Henry touring one of our fields of organic seed garlic at Boundary Garlic in Midway, BC |
Boundary Garlic specializes in heritage seed garlic which we sell by mail order across Canada. We sell only certified organic seed garlic. Seed garlic is garlic which has been grown with meticulous attention to quality. We have had organic certification since 2004.
My husband Henry and I - I’m Sonia - began growing garlic
on the ranch in 1999. The ranch is in the Boundary area
in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. In the beginning
we started with several heirloom cultivars. These flourished
and now we have about seventy-five distinct strains of garlic
in the ground at the garlic farm.
Our relationship with garlic is transforming into a conscious partnership.
The more carefully we listen, the better we are able to
meet the needs of the different garlics and to collaborate
with them in their culture and dissemination.
The Canadian climate is particularly well suited to growing
true hardneck garlic varieties. We continue to introduce
new cultivars and select those which thrive in our cold
winters and moderately hot summers. We also have a few softneck
garlics and some ‘weakly bolting hardnecks’.
For information on the changing face of garlic classification
see the article by Bob Anderson on the Garlic
Family Tree.
In 2008 there are 46 garlics named in our catalogue. We
have for sale a good selection of cultivars from each of
the five hardneck varieties: Rocambole,
Porcelain, Purple
Stripe, Marbled Purple
Stripe and Glazed Purple Stripe; from two weakly bolting
hardnecks: Asiatic and
Turban, and from the softneck variety Artichoke.
We should have substantial amounts of the Porcelains: Dan’s
Russian,
Georgian Fire,
Leningrad, Northern
Québec, Susan Delafield,
Ukrainian Mavniv
and Yugoslavian
; the assorted
Purple Stripes: Chesnok
Red, Metechi,
Persian Star
and Purple
Glazer; and the Rocamboles: Baba
Franchuk’s, German
Red, Korean Purple,
Puslinch, and
Spanish Roja,
as well as some Artichokes and weakly bolting hardnecks:
Sicilian Gold,
Sweet Haven,
Thai, and Tibetan.
In the catalogue there are also smaller quantities of many
other strains, many of them new this year. Collectors may
enquire about possible surpluses of garlics we are growing
that are not in the catalogue.
We have grown many of these strains up from bulbils.This is an excellent way to develop your planting stock. It is economical and in the years it takes for bulbs to reach their full potential the garlic strains adapt to your particular growing conditions. For more information on growing from bulbils go to our bulbils page and for information on availability contact us. For more of Henry's pictures of bulbils and of our experience growing bulbils visit his photo gallery, a work in progress.
![](images/bulbils-khabar.jpg) |
![](images/bulbils-susan-delafield.jpg) |
![](images/bulbils-korean-purple.jpg) |
Bulbils of the Purple Stripe, Khabar |
Bulbils of the Porcelain, Susan Delafield |
Bulbils of the Rocambole, Korean Purple |
want to see more pics of bulbils? visit Henry's gallery |
Garlic is really easy to grow in the home garden. We have lots of tips for growing our gourmet garlic. If you don’t find the answers to your questions on this website, please feel free to email us for help in producing superlative garlic bulbs that will keep for many months. |
What's New?
2009 Catalogue
The 2009 Seed Garlic Catalogue will be online July 1 and we will begin taking orders then for planting in the fall.
Catalogue français
Il y a maintenant une version française de notre catalogue.
Le 2009 catalogue est disponible aux pages Web
et aussi en format
imprimable pdf le debut juillet 2009 quand nous accepterons les
commandes qui seront envoyées en septembre 2009.
Order Bulbils in the Spring
We will be taking orders for bulbils in the spring, before we cut the scapes in June.
Info Sheets on Growing Garlic
We have summarized our Growing Garlic web pages onto two
printable pages.
Garlic Guru on Growing Garlic
Paul Pospisil's pamphlet on growing garlic is available
on this website. Paul is a Master Gardener who has been
growing and teaching about garlic since 1990. Visit the
Growing Garlic
and Harvesting
Garlic webpages.
The Garlic News
The Garlic News comes out four times a year. There’s a
wealth of garlic tips, reports, marketing ideas and news
packed into every issue. Subscription
information is available here.
Feature Article
We are delighted to present a fascinating article on True
Seeds in Garlic by Dr. Rina Kamenetsky.
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