Among the two main categories of cultivated garlic, hardneck types occupy the more complex end of the spectrum. They organize themselves around a central woody stem — the "neck" that gives them their name — and produce a single layer of cloves in a ring around it. The rocambole varieties, whose cloves alternate large and small around the stem, are prized above almost all others by serious cooks for their rich, layered flavor and paper-thin skins. The continental hardneck types offer more uniform cloves and somewhat longer storage, splitting the difference between the rocambole's intensity and the softneck's practicality.

Plant individual cloves in autumn, two to three inches deep and six to eight inches apart, in loose and fertile well-drained soil with a good mulch to suppress weeds. The curling flower scape that emerges in late spring should be harvested — it is excellent raw, roasted, or stir-fried, and removing it pushes energy into bulb development below. Harvest when about half the leaves have browned. Hardneck garlic stores for several months in a cool, dry location, though it won't reach the year-long shelf life of softneck types. What it lacks in longevity it more than compensates for in flavor.