Farming couple Jim and Maddy Adams started out as beef producers in Mullaley, New South Wales. In 2008 the couple planted some garlic they found in Mr Adams' grandmother's garden and from there a business started.
“I just found some garlic growing in my grandmother’s garden that had been there for about 20 years and decided to pull it up and plant it in the vegetable patch,” Mr Adams said.
“For a couple of years I just grew that and then in 2010 we started planting it out in the paddock using the original seedstock.
“That year we went to the Taste of the Liverpool Plains field day where we met the chef from the Graze restaurant in Willow Tree and we supplied them for a couple of years.”
They spent the next few years testing different purple and white varieties and they’re now supplying retailers and markets in Sydney with Carthian Hill Fresh Garlic.
The garlic is sold through butcher shops and grocery outlets in Sydney and about a third of the crop is sold through Flemington markets.
It comes in custom-made hessian bags which are perfect for storing garlic.
Mr Adams said feedback from clients had been excellent, with retailers wanting to buy more each year.
About a tonne of garlic seed will be planted across two hectares, and Mr Adams hopes to harvest six to seven tonnes.
“Last year we doubled our production from 2014 and we’re hoping to nearly double it again this year,” he said.
“We’ve got the demand - we just need to fine-tune the production system to reduce costs and make it a viable business.”
There have been plenty of growing pains, from ground preparation to weeding and irrigation timing.
Finding the right varieties was another challenge. Mr and Mrs Adams grow Monaro purple garlic, a versatile garlic with moderate to strong flavour, the milder French white garlic, and the larger elephant garlic.
They keep all their own seedstock.
“Procuring good quality seedstock can be quite difficult and we had some problems with seed in the past that hasn’t performed,” Mr Adams said.
“We’ve found our varieties and stuck with them because we know what we’ve got and how they perform.”
Source: goodfruitandvegetables.com.au
