THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 2020 MBRE 5Every year at about this point in the grow-
ing season, Alley Swiss has a ritual he per-
forms. It’s one that humans have done for
thousands of years as they cultivated one of
our oldest, most beloved food crops.
Mr. Swiss, an organic farmer, walks out
into his garlic field in the Okanogan Valley
of north-central Washington, looking for
guidance: Is the garlic ready?
Harvest has already begun in the South,
the Gulf states and lower-elevation areas of
the Southwest. “But pretty much coast to
coast in the North, it’s usually mid-July,” Mr.
Swiss said, with some varieties requiring
even more patience.
But he doesn’t simply look at the calendar
and start digging. He watches, and he waits.
If you know how to look, he said, the garlic
will tell you when it is time.
Mr. Swiss has been growing garlic in this
semiarid zone an hour below the Canadian
border for 10 years, since he and his wife,
Phoebe Swiss, took over one of the oldest
certified organic farms in the state of Wash-
ington. Filaree Garlic Farm has been certi-
fied since 1978, and garlic has been grown
there for about 35 years, with 30 acres — a
projected harvest of some 20,000 pounds —
currently about to come due.
All of it will be sold as “seed garlic,” as the
bulbs are called, not to restaurants or gro-
ceries. Of course, they’re not seeds, exactly.
Each clove tightly packed within a head is
popped out and planted separately by Fila-
ree’s customers, most of whom are home
gardeners. (About 20 percent of sales are to
commercial growers and garden centers.)
But growing and selling seed garlic isn’t
the only thing that Filaree Garlic Farm
does. With more than 100 varieties in its col-
lection, it has a responsibility that many of
its customers may not realize: It acts as a
seed bank for garlic genetics from around
the world.
Today, wild garlic is found only in parts of
Central Asia, but it may have once grown
wild from China to India, Egypt and
Ukraine, according to Philipp W. Simon, a
research leader at the Agriculture Depart-
ment’s Agricultural Research Service and a
professor in the University of Wisconsin-
Madison’s department of horticulture.
From those ancient beginnings, garlic has
traveled the globe to become one of the
world’s most important vegetable crops.
“The varieties we grow are really the
work of cultures who have been growing
and selecting them for thousands of years,”
said Mr. Swiss, whose catalog lists varieties
like Romanian Red, Thai Purple, Sicilian
and Transylvanian. “Garlic was something
people could take with them while traveling
from area to area. They could plant it where
they ended up, and the garlic evolved as
they did that.”
Garlic asks for an investment of time, go-
ing in the ground in fall and remaining there
until the following summer. But Mr. Swiss is
in no rush, and Filaree’s other specialties in-
clude organic asparagus crowns, sweet po-
tato slips and seed potatoes — all vegetative
rootstocks that, like garlic, are carefully
stored from year to year as future “starts.”
Business in this pandemic year has been
brisk at Filaree, as it has been for most sup-
pliers of the raw materials of food gardens.
“When you’re surrounded by so much eco-
nomic devastation,” Mr. Swiss said, “doing
business feels awkward. But we’re happy
people want to grow food.”
He shared his knowledge on harvesting,
curing and storing garlic — and how to
plant this fall as an investment for years to
come.
Hardneck or Softneck?
There are two principal types of garlic:
hardneck and softneck.
They’re grown the same way, but one has
a bonus harvest. Hardneck varieties
produce delicious scapes, or seed stalks,
two to four weeks before the bulbs are
ready. Scapes should be removed, and they
make great pesto that can be frozen; they
can also be sautéed or grilled.
About two-thirds of Filaree’s field comes
out in July, but the latest to mature are soft-
necks called silverskins, which are har-
vested as late as early August. They are the
most common type sold in supermarkets,
because of their long storage life.
“We plant our field chronologically, so we
can work from one side to the other at har-
vest,” Mr. Swiss said. “Though weatherdoes play tricks, so it isn’t always as pre-
cisely organized as that image lays out.”Read the Leaves
That’s how you’ll know when to harvest.
As July approaches, Mr. Swiss has his
gaze on the garlic leaves. When four or five
green leaves remain close to the top of the
plant, and the rest are near crispy brown
with no green left, then you are within har-
vest range. “At that point, take a couple of
samples,” he said. “Dig a bulb and take a
peek — which, after waiting eight or nine
months, is such fun.”
Notice he didn’t say pull, but dig, or at
least loosen the soil with a spading fork at a
safe distance from the bulbs, before lifting
the plants.
What is Mr. Swiss looking for? “I look for
mature bulb development in the ‘shoulder,’
where the bulb curves toward the stem,” he
said. “There should be clear definition be-
tween neck and bulb; an immature bulb
simply curves into the neck.”
The shoulder develops in the last few
weeks before harvest, as the bulbs swell inthe summer heat.
Weather, however, can upset the natural
order. When conditions are too wet close to
maturity, it can cause issues with bulb-split-
ting and rot. “I might jump the harvest and
start at six green leaves,” he said. “But I
don’t go past four, even if it’s very dry.”
That’s because garlic left in the ground
too long is prone to deterioration of the bulb
wrappers — the lower portion of the leaves
— and it’s also prone to rot.
And while garlic dug before full maturity,
or left too long in the ground, may still be
edible, it won’t cure or keep as well.Curing the Garlic
After the harvest, hardneck plants — un-
trimmed, but cleaned up — are hung in bun-
dles in the barn. Softneck plants are cured
on racks, because plants may slip out of
knots made to bundle and hang them.
Whatever the setup, there are three cru-
cial ingredients for curing, Mr. Swiss said:
“Airflow, relative darkness and heat —
those three factors will affect the quality of
the garlic and the length of time it stores.”
Gardeners with no outside shelter can lay
plants out in a relatively dark room on a
rack made of screening or hardware cloth,
with airflow below and a fan directed on the
bulbs.
“In optimal conditions like our hot, dry
summers here, curing takes only two or
three weeks,” Mr. Swiss said. “But it can
take longer. If you’re in a humid place, the
fan goes a long way.”Bring the Temperature Down
Heat is important for curing, but when
you’re storing garlic, you’ll need to cool
things down.
After curing, trim the dried roots and
stem, and peel off the dirty, outermost layer
if you like, but leave the lower portion with
at least four of the old leaves on. Each leaf is
a bulb wrapper, and the more wrappers, the
better storage.
The ideal storage conditions are cool and
dark, and neither too humid nor too dry —
about 50 degrees and around 65 percent hu-
midity.
You can store garlic in temperatures as
low as 38 degrees, Mr. Swiss said, but there
will be consequences: “Once you take garlic
out of that temperature, it sprouts quicker
than bulbs stored closer to 50, because
you’re playing with plant’s vernalization cy-
cle.”
In other words, the bulbs perceive that
they’ve been through winter and that
spring has arrived, so they wake up.A Primer on Planting
Hardneck and softneck bulbs should be
planted in a sunny spot with well-drained
soil, three to five weeks before frost is in the
ground. In frost-free zones, plant in Novem-
ber or December.
The biggest cloves yield the strongest
plants, so plant those. (The smaller ones,
you can eat.)
Plant in a grid, placing each clove root
side down (point up) about two to three
inches below the soil surface, with cloves
spaced five to eight inches apart in all direc-
tions.
The key is making sure you have enough
room between rows to cultivate and weed,
because garlic does not compete well with
weeds, especially early in its growth. A lay-
er of mulch applied after planting helps sup-
press the weeds.
And maybe most important: Remember
to plant plenty of garlic to cure and store,
because you’ll need more than just what
you’re going to eat. If you want future crops,
you’ll need something to replant.
“There are not many vegetables where
saving seed is as straightforward,” Mr.
Swiss said. “By simply setting some bulbs
aside to put back in the ground in fall, you
get to participate in an act both ancient and
with hope for the future.”Patiently Growing Pungent Bunches of Joy
Lessons from an organic
farmer on how to cultivate,
pick and cure garlic at home.
Top, freshly harvested hardneck garlic. Above
left, garlic fields at Filaree Garlic Farm in
Washington. Above, reading the leaves. Left,
bundled and curing. Below, hardneck garlic
offers a bonus harvest of seed stalks.PHOTOGRAPHS BY PHOEBE SWISSIN THE GARDEN
By MARGARET ROACHThis eight-bedroom Victorian mansion,
called Kilteelagh House, sits on the south-
east shore of Lough Derg, a 32,000-acre
lake in County Tipperary, about 100 miles
southwest of Dublin.
Built circa 1863 with the exposed stone-
work and hipped polychrome slate roof of
the High Victorian Gothic style, the 10,904-
square-foot house features five reception
rooms, soaring ceilings, a finished base-
ment level and an attached courtyard build-
ing with an artist’s studio and rec rooms.
The secluded 25-acre property also in-
cludes a barn, garage, equestrian facilities
and a substantial boathouse, said David
Ashmore, a managing director with Ireland
Sotheby’s International Realty, which has
the listing.
The entrance porch opens to a reception
hall linking to an inner stair hall with doors
to a study, drawing room, dining room and
rear hall leading to the kitchen. The house
retains period features such as intricate
cornicing, plaster ceiling roses and carved
timber architraves on doors and windows.
The interconnected drawing room and
study have wood-burning fireplaces with
marble chimney pieces, and the drawing
room has a raised seating area with lake
views. The dining room has a marble fire-
place, while the open-plan kitchen has an is-
land, granite countertops and a cast-iron
fireplace.
The timber staircase ascends to a second-
floor landing accessing five bedrooms and
three bathrooms. The master bedroom has
large bay windows overlooking the lake, a
coved ceiling, cast-iron fireplace and a
dressing room.
The finished basement level has several
rooms, including two bedrooms, two bath-
rooms, an office, living room, laundry, boot
room and wine cellar. Outside, a terrace
with a barbecue pit is surrounded by Vic-
torian-style gardens with seating areas
among mature shrubs and trees. The boat
house has a harbor and includes two timber
pontoons.
Kilteelagh House is just outside Dromi-
neer, a village of about 100 residents with a
pub-restaurant and a 13th-century castle
among its attractions. About six miles
southeast is the town of Nenagh, with about
9,000 residents and a variety of shops and
restaurants. Shannon Airport, with direct
flights to the United States and Britain, is
about 50 miles southwest.Market Overview
Ireland’s housing market enjoyed a robust
recovery in the years after the global reces-
sion of 2008, with prices rising by 82.6 per-
cent from their nadir in early 2013 to April- However, the ascent tapered off con-
siderably in 2019, slowed by stricter lending
rules, increasing supply and the uncer-
tainty surrounding Brexit.
Restrictions imposed to fight the global
pandemic “effectively froze the housing
market over the last three months,” said
Guy Craigie, director of residential Ireland
for the Knight Frank brokerage. But with
many of those restrictions lifted as of June
8, “we are beginning to witness a strong re-
bound in activity,” he said.
Country estates like this one may be
viewed even more favorably by prospective
buyers who were confined in tight urban
dwellings during the lockdown, Mr. Ash-
more said.Who Buys in Ireland
Historically, foreign buyers — many of
them returning Irish expatriates — ac-
counted for about half of the sales of country
estates in Ireland. But the past decade,
that’s grown to two-thirds, Mr. Ashmore
said. “The U.S. has been the strongest
source of foreign buyers in recent years,
overtaking the U.K.,” he said. However, “the
emergence of European-based buyers was
the big news of 2019, and this trend seems
set to become a key factor of our market.”Buying Basics
There are no restrictions on foreign home
buyers in Ireland, but there are residency
restrictions. Those with a European Union
passport can reside in Ireland, while those
without may obtain a three-month visa, Mr.
Ashmore said.
He noted that the Ireland Immigrant In-
vestor Program, established in 2012, allows
buyers from outside the E.U. to obtain resi-
dency “in exchange for making an ap-
proved investment in the Irish economy.”Taxes and Fees
Based on Ireland’s property tax formula,
annual taxes would be roughly 2,250 euros
to 2,500 euros ($2,500 to $2,800).Contact
David Ashmore, Ireland Sotheby’s Interna-
tional Realty, 011-353-87-251-2909,
sothebysrealty.comLakeside Living in a Victorian Mansion
Clockwise from above: The
10,904-square-foot house is
about 100 miles southwest of
Dublin; the interconnected
drawing room and study have
wood-burning fireplaces; the
dining room has cornicing and
plaster ceiling rose, and a
chandelier.PHOTOGRAPHS BY NIALL CARROLLBy ALISON GREGOR$2.63 million
INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE
IRELAND