Finding Room to Grow

Photo by Amy Zambonin
Peter Farrell and Ana Gonzalez Guerrero, friends of Mayo Hill Garlic Farm owners Gary Bougard and Renée Giroux, help plant more than 23,000 bulbs of garlic last October.
Giroux, above, harvests garlic scapes — the curly green stem of the flower.
Farmers typically remove the scapes in late June to allow the plant to put its energy into the bulb.
Over the years, Gary Bougard, above, and his wife, Renée Giroux, have experimented with growing approximately 50 different garlic varieties, but they’ve honed their crop to focus on about 20.
“We’ve eliminated the ones that won’t grow big enough,” Giroux says. “People will not buy small garlic no matter how flavourful it is, because it’s the same price as something twice the size."
With the help of friends and family, Giroux and Bougard harvested 20 different varieties and more than 23,000 bulbs of garlic this year.
Of those harvested, 6,000 bulbs will be planted for next year, 2,000 will be sold as seed and 15,000 sold at farmers' markets.