Potager Bisson

We are a family of gardeners who are passionate about growing garlic.

We are proud members of the Common Ground Growers Cooperative, and we sell vegetables seasonally at the New Germany Farmers Maket.

Agroecology

We use ecological and no-till methods of gardening to grow and conserve a broad diversity of different garlic varieties.

Please note that we have already sold out of all of our seed garlic for 2025.

We plant all of our garlic sometime between mid-to-late-November. We plant later if it is unseasonably warm. We do not plant if the soil is wet. We recommend adding a good inch of composted manure to your soil and mixing it in before planting. Our soil is on the acidic side so we add lime make it more neutral. The soil can be broken up at this point using a broad fork, making sure air and compost can get in without disturbing the soil life and structure. We plant cloves six inches apart in rows 12 inches apart. We plant the cloves two inches deep. This makes for four rows in a five foot raised garden bed. Once planted we cover the bed with at least and inch of straw. Shoots tend to come up in the spring around March. Scapes from hardneck varieties are ready to harvest between late-June and early-July. Bulbs are harvested in mid-to-late-July (softneck earlier than hardneck) and cured in a dark, breezy place for at least three weeks so that it can be stored overwinter.

Our garlic is categorized into three grades based on its size and quality:

1. Reserve Grade – The best and largest bulbs retained to replant in our garden in the fall. [Not available for sale]
2. Seed Grade – Good quality and large bulbs that would be ideal for planting. We sell seed garlic at the New Germany Farmers Market between late-August and mid-October (Thanksgiving weekend). [Summer 2025: $4/bulb – SOLD OUT]
3. Food Grade – Good quality with varying sizes. This garlic is meant to be eaten. We sell seed garlic at the New Germany Farmers Market between late-August and mid-October (Thanksgiving weekend). [Summer 2025: $12/lb or $1.5/bulb]
4. Processing Grade – Poor quality and varying sizes. Seconds can be requested for a whole-sale price based on availability.

We currently care for the following 12 sub-varieties of garlic (Allium sativum):

• Hardneck Garlic (A. sativum var. ophioscorodon): This kind of garlic has a hard stem called a “scape”, which can be removed and eaten. It is encouraged to remove the garlic scapes so that the plant can concentrate its growth on the bulb. Hardneck garlic tends to be spicier that softneck garlic.
  • Porcelain: This cold-weather variety of garlic is large and has white, easy-to-peel skin. It stores very well over winter. It does not like heavy, wet soil. It grew very well with light watering during the 2023 and 2025 droughts. It did not do as well in wetter years.
    • HPGJ – German White (“Jimmy”) [Stable Reserve, producing food-grade surplus]: This subvariety of porcelain hardneck was sourced from Le Ferme Cooperative Tournesol in Les Cèdres, Kanien’kehá:ka Territory-Quebec. They got it from a guy named Jamie Quinn under the name German White. Its pretty spicy and produces up to seven really large, orange and purple cloves per bulb. It is also one of our tougher varieties in terms of drought-tolerance.
    • HPLG – Leningrad [Increasing Reserve]: This variety came from Bird and Bee Farm (no longer in operation) in Ottawa, Algonqin-Anishinabeg. It produces four to six purple-tipped cloves per bulb. It has a rich and spicy flavour. The variety originally comes from Russia so it is best-suited for cold climates, though some have stated that it grows well in the south of Turtle Island-North America.
    • HPMN – Mennonite [Increasing Reserve]: This variety was sourced by a friend in Bridgewater, Mi’kma’ki-Nova Scotia who says they sourced in from Richters Seed in Good Wood, Michi Saagiig Anishinabeg territory. It originally came from a German Mennonite colony in the territories of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. It has white skin with a slight purple blush and produces 4 to 6 large, pink cloves. It has a rich and spicy flavour.
    • HPMU – Music [Stable]: This is a reliable and widely-available variety that came from Vesey’s Seed in York, Mi’kma’ki-PEI. It has a rich and slightly sweet flavour. It is not a spicey as porcelain varieties like German Jimmy. It has a pink blush on its white skin and produces 5 to 7 large brown to purple cloves per bulb. Yugoslavian Immigrant Al Music brought it to Canada in the 1980s. The variety was trialed at an Agriculture and Agrifood Canada breeding station in southwestern Ontario to assist farmers to transition to an alternative crop as the tobacco industry was declining in Canada.
    • HPPW – Polish White [Stable]: This variety was sourced from Pine Grove Garlic Company in East Hants, Mi’kma’ki-Nova Scotia
  • Marbled Purple Stripe
    • HRCR – Chesnok Red [Lost]: This garlic variety was sourced from Le Ferme Cooperative Tournesol in Les Cèdres, Kanien’kehá:ka Territory-Quebec.
    • HMRR.K – Red Russian (“Kotsyn”) [Stable]: This variety came from Bird and Bee Farm (no longer in operation) in Ottawa, Algonqin-Anishinabeg Territory.
    • HMSB – Siberian [Stable]: This garlic variety was sourced from Le Ferme Cooperative Tournesol in Les Cèdres, Kanien’kehá:ka Territory-Quebec.
  • Rocambole
    • HRDM – Drummond [Increasing]: This variety came from Ferme Germain Desmarais in Pierreville, Quebec. The farmer said it was not any specific sub-variety so I have named it Drummond because we got the seed garlic in Drummondville.
    • HRFR – French [Stable]: This variety came from Bird and Bee Farm (no longer in operation) in Ottawa, Algonqin-Anishinabeg Territory.
    • HRKP – Korean Purple [Stable]: This variety came from Bird and Bee Farm (no longer in operation) in Algonqin-Anishinabeg Territory. They got this variety from Green’s Creek Farm (my former farm!) in Ottawa. I got it from Operation Come Home’s Farm Works program in Ottawa. They got it from Hawthorne Farm (Mount Forest, Ontario) in 2013. Originally from South Korea.
    • HRNQ – Nord du Quebec [Stable]: This variety came from Bird and Bee Farm (no longer in operation) in Ottawa, Ontario. They sourced it from Kula Organic Garlic in Coburg, Ontario.
• Softneck
  • Artichoke
    • Polish Red (“Harmony”) [Stable]: This variety was sourced from Yonderhill Farm in Lunenburg County, Mi’kma’ki-Nova Scotia

How to get a hold of Potager Bisson

You can find us at the Common Ground Growers Cooperative table every Friday between 2-6pm during the New Germany Farmers Market season, which runs between early June and Thanksgiving Weekend in October.

Or you can send me an email here: