Garlic built the pyramids
French physician and bon vivant Henri Leclerc gets credit for calling garlic “the stinking rose.” Garlic belongs in the lily family, so I suggest “the social lily.”
To be clear, this M. Leclerc was not the M. Le Clerc who executed hundreds of witches, which was bad thing. Leclerc the physician focused on and wrote about phytotherapy which is sort of the same thing as herbal medicine. It is no surprise a free-thinking physician would include garlic in discussions of herbal medicine.
I mention this because now is a good time to plant garlic. Grow your own. Connect with the knowledge of centuries of our forebears.
Garlic has been our friend for more than five millennia. Sanskrit texts from 5000 years ago mention it, so folks just like us that had figured out its usefulness, so don’t tell me humans can’t spell. Garlic has street cred around the globe. Traditional Chinese Medicine proclaimed garlic’s vulnerary properties for digestion, immunity, blood and heart. The workers who built the pyramids were given bread, onions, garlic and beer as rations, and records indicate they went on strike when they did not get enough garlic.
Ancient Greeks were gaga for garlic. Greek folks would place garlic on a pile of stones at crossroads to appease Hecate, the goddess of the wilderness, and, of course, chase away demons. Greek athletes and soldiers ate garlic for strength, and before a birth, garlic was hung near the birthing room to, of course, ward off demons.
Greek dude Homer wrote long stories, and in one of them called The Odyssey, Odysseus was given an herbal elixir called moly as protection against his nemesis evil sorceress Circe. Folks who study things claim moly is garlic! Holy moly! The garlic worked to repel her evil conniving, and, in fact, they hooked up and had a lot of fun on an island. So thanks, garlic.
Roman generals, after conquering a kingdom, planted garlic all around because of the belief garlic gave the troops courage. Maybe the idea was to plant a bunch now in case we need courage for more conquering.
The mythos that garlic was scary enough to scare away demons spread to Europe. Bram Stoker adapted the idea in his 1897 novel Dracula. The Western world ever since has associated garlic and vampires. I have garlic in my garden and in my house, and, so far, no vampires that I’m aware of… just sayin’.
Welsh legend maintains, “Leeks in May, garlic in May, the rest of the year, the doctor can play,” meaning after spring garlic, you’re good to go. I harvest garlic in early summer. Your local biosphere might deviate a week or two, but the point is grow your own garlic. It’s easy.
So garlic is connected to mystery, legends and continuous medicinal/culinary use since before it built the pyramids. Me and my garden don’t think about all that when garlic, the garden and I go through our seasons together.
During garlic time harvest time 2024 in my garden, I apparently missed a couple bulbs, and over the next year, each clove in each bulb developed its own bulb, so what a cluster of bulbs I dug up. Garlic shall prevail.
Garlic growers, now’s the time. Your soil should already be worked to optimum friability so the universe in its enormity is happy for the prospects of your garlic. Space each clove 5-6 inches from its neighbors at a depth of 4-6 inches. The gardener does the initial work, the soil is the host of what’s next, and each clove writes a story to be revealed in nine months. One clove might produce a bulb with six or so cloves.
In 2010, I planted the cloves from a single bulb that had begun to sprout. Each clove grew into bulb, and every September since, I plant a few of the current garlic generation to keep the legacy going, bolster my health and keep vampires and fundamentalists at bay.