I first bulge out garden in college , when , one summer , I took over a small piece of nation in my parents ’ suburban backyard to grow edible corn , beans and Lycopersicon esculentum . Some years later on , with a star sign and some kids of my own , my married woman and I protrude tearing up our recess - lot backyard , order in a lowly grove , some berry bushes and a few words of herbs and vegetable . One garden crop , though , quickly emerge as a favourite to acquire : garlic .
Why garlic instead of , say , plump tomatoes or prolific okra ? While I do like develop both of those quite a lot , garlic is just distinctly substantial , not to mention easy , to grow . There ’s a hardening - it - and - forget it element to growing backyard incandescent lamp that ’s undeniably appealing , though harvest pinnace summer scape is one task I relish .
And once you ’ve stocked the pantry with your own garlic to savour ’ til next harvest , you wo n’t want to go back to purchasing .
What follows are a few tips and trick I ’ve picked up over the retiring ten - asset of mature ail for my family .
When to Plant
Typically , garlic is engraft in the fall . I like to get mine in the terra firma in recent October for one dewy-eyed cause : Bulbs will be quick around July 4 , which is just easy to design for .
But as I write this , it ’s November . And you may not see this chronicle until December . Did you overleap your window of chance to arise garlic ?
Nope . One year I put off planting until Christmas Eve , a traditional planting date for Irish gardeners ( or so I ’ve get word ) . And you’re able to put garlic in the ground in spring for either spring garlic ( or green ail — like leek ) or for later harvest as a light bulb ( though normally without cloves ) .
But my mob eats a spate of garlic , so big bulb are best for our motive . Fall planting , as such , are our standard .
How to Get Seed Garlic
After your first year of growing garlic , your crop will be pretty self - sustain . Just pick the practiced bulbs from your harvest time and habituate the cloves to grow next season ’s harvest .
But what if it ’s your first year ? Or possibly it ’s been a few years and your store needs freshen . you may easily line up garlic come stock in nursery catalog for reasonable prices , though merchant vessels costs are typically substantial , and you ’ll push your planting engagement out quite a bit as you hold off on delivery .
Want to found cloves this weekend ? Here ’s a quick tip : Just go get some garlic . you could totally head up to the grocery store and pluck up some constitutional bulbs ( crucial because conventional Allium sativum is probably spray with a growth inhibitor — not what you want from cum garlic ) to shoot aside and stick in the priming .
Even better ? Head to the farmers securities industry and purchase some topically grow seeds . I ’m currently on my third class constitute German hardy hardneck ( because I care scapes , which softneck variety do n’t develop ) garlic corrupt from a market bringing religious service during 202o ’s lockdown . It grow awing in my suburban backyard patch , and the lightbulb get magnanimous each season as I select for idealistic growing .
How to Plant Garlic
you could easily find overcomplicated program line online for grow garlic , but in trueness , you just need to stick some clove in the ground . Here ’s what ’s worked for me across three different develop locations .
I ’ve selected a jolly gay quad on the edge of my garden for arise garlic . This I attack with my circular manual tiller ( you recognise , with the four tines at the end ) to relax the filth . I deck a bin of compost onto this develop blank space and give it another warm till to break up and turn in .
Then I dig two shallow trench the length of the acquire space . Garlic cloves require a depth of 2 in , with a spacing of 4 to 8 inches between plant . And because I have two row , I space these about a foot apart ( though a minimum of 6 inches will do ) . That ’s a tightly growing crop , and I can easily get 50 + bulbs from my effective little spot .
Next , it ’s time to plant . Place cloves betoken up ( authoritative , but easy to remember if you ’ve ever had a garlic clove sprout in the pantry ) the requisite 4 to 8 inch apart down the wrangle , then cover it all back up with turd .
And because this is a twilight planting , I like to gain fall leave-taking and spread them over the top for insulation . I run my reel lawn mower over the leaves a few times to mulch them for quick rot issue forth warmer atmospheric condition . Then … I ’m done for a while .
Read more : Hand tool can really get the job done around the farm .
Winter Stuff
In wintertime , you wo n’t see much activity . Though the little green shoots that do poke through your winter garden can be a actual blessing to the senses when everything else is brown and dreary .
This wintertime quiescency is really important to the works , though , as it kick starts the cognitive operation that finally result in those big bulbs you ’ll roast up next autumn for fantastic fall spirit .
Spring & Summer
As bound thaws bring lovesome weather back to your life , the Allium sativum you grow in your patch will spring to life . In my experience , growth set about off tardily , then detonate into a jungle of green once summer takes hold . Through all this , just check that your garlic stays hydrous . ( Mulch helps . )
As mentioned earlier , I am a big fan of scapes — the stalk hardneck garlic plants send off off that , if not remove , finally flower . Practically speaking , remove this stalk diverts vitality downward to produce bigger bulbs . From a culinary perspective , cutting scape give you an early gustatory sensation of your homegrown garlic .
If you implant garlic in descent , you should see scapes start to grow in early to mid June . Cut flower stalk when the stalk curls around itself ( or earlier ) to avoid tough , woody texture . I turn out scapes at a slight angle tight to the groundwork using a pair of garden shear , and I typically do this in the high heat of the day so the cut will dry out before eve temps introduce threat of disease to the wounding .
scape taste delicious grill , and many growers find they make an fantabulous pesto . I often use fresh scapes in place of garlic ( the flavor is just a bit sluttish ) in ado fry or even pasta sauce . And I wash and toss spare scapes in the Deepfreeze to enjoy later ( plant send out scapes at the same time , so I typically have a lot of them all at once ) .
Harvest Time!
I roll in the hay it ’s meter to harvest my spill - planted ail around July 4 , but there ’s another way to realize it ’s time to bring in a garden forking : The plants wait terrible . stalk will start to embrown and give way a few week before it ’s time to harvest . Head out to call for your harvesting when the stalks appear downright dead .
( mention : If you have a lot of garlic , feel free to harvest green in the gloam . The delicate flavor is a special treat . )
My tool of alternative for harvesting garlic is a potato crotch , though I ’ve used a pitchfork in the past . Two points to keep in mind when harvesting : 1 . ) those bulb are in all likelihood farther down than you think and 2 . ) they ’re not always where you strike , so pull up stakes plenty of room when douse those tine into the ground .
Regardless of care , though , you ’ll probably nick a bulb or two . That ’s fine — just remove the injured clove and love these bulbs first .
But harvesting is broadly speaking an easygoing job . press tines into the priming a good 5 to 6 in aside from the stalk and well into the ground , then , once you ’re pretty certain you ’re under the bulb , pull the handgrip back to push the plant up . You take to loosen the base on the underside of your light bulb , and do n’t think you’re able to but pull secured garlic out by the stalking . ( The stalk is potential to interrupt off , then you have to go searching for the Allium sativum , which is a bother . )
work out the soil loose around the plant , then pull medulla oblongata out , going back to retread the soil if you bump resistor . Once you have a garlic bulb out , move on to the next one until you ’ve harvested everything .
Read more : food market gardeners should n’t overlook garlic .
Cure First
As with other edible alliums and tubers , you need tocure your garlicfor wintertime computer storage . Some people will get fancy and braid the stalks , then hang these to dry . I ’ve done that , and I ’ve also just lopped off the stalks and laid them out to cure . None of this is as important as it is to countenance them sit down in a low - humidness space for a while so they can dry out out without growing cast .
you may , of course , love electric-light bulb as you involve them during the two or so weeks they ’re curing . This is just about prepping bulb for memory through the winter and spring .
Once bulb are cured , you could crop off any superfluous stalking or roots and store in a well - ventilated distance . ( I have a full basket in our cellar pantry right now . ) And take this time to select your best , magnanimous medulla for next year ’s crop , setting them aside to constitute in next free fall ’s garlic garden .
And that ’s it . You now uprise garlic !
