Most delicious garlic

It’s easy to buy garlic at markets. But there’s good reason to grow your own: You can’t beat the spicy flavor of homegrown hardneck varieties such as ‘Spanish Roja’. In spring, hardnecks send up a center flower stalk that you can use like scallions in cooking. (You need to snip it off anyway, to make the bulb grow larger.) Once the leaves die back next June, dig up the plants, brush off the soil, and store the bulbs until you’re ready to cook. Sources: Territorial Seed Company (territorialseed.com), Hood River Garlic (hoodrivergarlic.com)