Growing your own garlic at home is healthier and cheaper than buying garlic from the supermarket. Planting and harvesting garlic is very easy and it thrives outdoors or indoors with lots of sun and a little care and attention. Planting and growing garlic can provide you with an endless supply of this health-boosting plant for use in cooking and in-home remedies.
Garlic is a member of the same family as onions, leeks, and chives, and can be eaten raw or cooked. Besides being a delicious addition to many meals, you should eat more garlic due to its many therapeutic properties. Garlic is known to prevent colds, help keep your heart healthy, and is a natural antibiotic.
One reason to grow your own garlic is that much of the garlic sold in supermarkets is treated with chemicals to prevent it from sprouting. So, when looking for the best type of garlic to grow, you should always buy organic garlic to plant.
In this step-by-step guide, you will find out how to grow garlic and get the best tips to ensure a great harvest. But first of all, you must know its great benefits.
The health benefits of garlic
Garlic contains a compound called allicin. This is a sulfur compound that gives garlic its strong smell and many of its health benefits.
A review of the therapeutic effects of garlic found that consuming garlic can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart attacks. Its sulfur-rich compounds have an anticancer and antitumor effect on malignant cells.
The allicin in garlic is also a natural antimicrobial agent that can destroy various strains of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. Eating more garlic can help speed up the healing process of various infections and can be used to treat various drug resistant infections.
What It Takes to Harvest Good Quality Garlic?
All you need to start growing your own garlic is a few organic garlic cloves. You can start by buying a couple of garlic bulbs from a local farmers market, a plant nursery, or online. Garlic bought from the supermarket is not suitable for growing yours because it has probably been treated with chemicals to prevent growth.
There are 2 main types of garlic to grow at home:
Mild neck garlic. These varieties produce large bulbs with up to 20 teeth. It grows well in warmer climates or where winters are milder. Some excellent varieties of soft neck garlic are: Acholium Red, New York White, Susanville.
Garlic with a hard neck . Hard garlic varieties tend to do well in colder climates. They tend to taste less pungent than round neck garlic, but do not stay as long as squishy neck. Some types of hard garlic that you can grow at home are: German Red
Asian Tempest, Merrifield Rocambole, Spanish Roja Rocamboie.
When choosing what type of garlic to grow at home, choose the round neck varieties if you live in a warm climate or the harsh variety if you are in colder climates.
How to plant garlic?
Read on for information on sourcing garlic for planting, growing, harvesting at the end of the growing season, and storing it properly.
Preparation to grow garlic
1 -. Find out when to plant garlic in your region. In general, the best time to plant is mid-fall or early spring.
Garlic grows well in a wide range of climates. It does so well in areas of high temperature or humidity, or where there is a lot of rainfall.
2-. Choose a planting site and land preparation. Garlic needs plenty of full sun, but it can tolerate partial shade, as long as it’s not for too long during the day or growing season. The soil must be well dug and brittle. Sandy is the best.
- Make sure the soil has good drainage. Clay-based soils are not good for growing garlic.
- Use compost and manure to add nutrients to the soil before planting the garlic.
3 – Use fresh garlic as a source. Garlic is grown by planting cloves – called seeds for our purposes – so to start, all you have to do is buy fresh garlic. Pick your garlic from a store, or better yet, from a farm or local farmer’s market. It is very important that the garlic heads chosen are fresh and of high quality. If possible, avoid garlic that has been sprayed with chemical sprays.
- Choose fresh garlic bulbs with large cloves. Avoid garlic that has become mushy.
- Each clove will sprout into a garlic plant, so keep that in mind when calculating how many heads to buy.
- If you have some garlic in your house that has sprouted, that is of great use.
- Nurseries also offer garlic bulbs for planting. Visit one for a specific variety, or for advice on local conditions for garlic.
Sowing garlic
1 – Break the cloves of a fresh garlic head. Be careful not to damage the cloves at their base, where they join the garlic plate. If the base is damaged, the garlic will not grow.
Plant the big teeth. Smaller teeth take up the same amount of space in the seedbed, but they produce much smaller bulbs.
2- Push each nail into the ground. Point the tip upward and plant your teeth about 2 inches deep.
The teeth should be about 20 cm (8 inches) apart for best growing conditions.
3 – Cover the planted nails with mulch. Suitable ingredients include hay, dry leaves, straw, compost, well-rotted manure, or well-rotten grass clippings.
4 – Fertilize the teeth or the surface with compost. Planted garlic needs a complete fertilizer at planting time.
Fertilize again in the spring if you are planting the garlic in the fall, or fertilize in the fall if you are planting in the spring.
Caring for garlic plants
1 -. Water the plants frequently. Freshly planted garlic should be kept moist to help the roots develop. Don’t overdo it in water, as garlic doesn’t grow well, or can even rot, if soaked during the cold months.
- Water deeply once a week if there is no rain. Watering garlic is not necessary unless there is a drought, and in that case, water sparingly as garlic does not like wet soil.
- Reduce watering gradually as the season warms up. Garlic needs a hot, dry summer for the bulbs to ripen.
2 -. Beware of pests. Insects, mice, and other creatures can come to eat the garlic or make a nest among the plants. Beware of the following pests:
- Aphids seem to enjoy garlic leaves and buds. They are easy to do without – just rub your fingers over them and squish them. You can know how to make natural fungicides and pesticides
- Many people tend to plant garlic under roses to deter aphids, roses benefit from aphids when they are away.
- Mice and other small creatures sometimes nest in the mulch. If you have a problem with mice in your area, consider using a type of compost that won’t attract them.
How to harvest garlic?
1 -. Eat some stalks. As the garlic plants begin to grow, long so-called green stems will emerge and form loops. Take out some and eat them if you like.
- This can damage the garlic heads, so don’t do it to every plant.
- Wear gloves when pulling the stems, otherwise your hands will smell like garlic for a whole day.
2 -. Be aware of the signs of being ready for harvest. Garlic bulbs are ready to be harvested when individual cloves can be felt on the bulb and the leaves turn yellow or brown.
- Once the stems begin to dry out, it is important to harvest the garlic or the head will “break off” and divide into individual cloves.
- Harvesting begins at the end of summer. Harvesting can continue well into fall, in most places.
- Some hot climates can allow early harvest of garlic.
3 -. Loosen the area around each bulb with a shovel. Pull the bulbs out of the ground.
- Be careful with the digging process, as garlic tends to bruise easily.
- Wash them and let them dry in a well-ventilated place or in the sun for a few days if there are no rainy days. Garlic can burn in the sun, so don’t leave them outside for too long.
Garlic storage
1 -. Store garlic in a cool, dry place in your home. Dried bulbs can be kept in a garlic container (usually made of ceramic), and individual cloves can be plucked out, as needed.
2 -. Make a garlic braid. The dried leaves can be braided, so they can be hung in your pantry or kitchen. This is decorative and useful.
3.- Store the garlic in oil or vinegar . Garlic cloves can be kept in oil or vinegar. However, to avoid the possibility of bacterial growth, keep in the fridge and consume quickly.
Tips for harvesting garlic
- Large teeth tend to match large bulbs.
- Save a garlic bulb or two from this year’s harvest to separate its cloves for planting next fall.
- Garlic is very resistant to cold. You can plant in the fall, leave it in the ground for the winter, and harvest it late next summer.
- While it’s perfectly okay to plant garlic from the supermarket or farm, you may want to try other varieties. Visit nursery or nursery websites for many more options, including other colors.
Common problems with growing garlic
Garlic is a very hardy plant that is easy to grow and is a natural pest repellent. However, there are some common problems when growing garlic.
Birds can poke around garlic buds and leaves which can destroy them. To prevent birds from damaging your garlic, cover the plant with horticultural mesh.
The Horticultural Society says that fungi in the soil can cause garlic bulbs to rot. Visible signs of white rot in garlic are yellowish, wilted stems. Garlic will also show signs of fungus around the base of the bulb. Leek rust (which also affects garlic) will cause bright yellow spots on the leaves, and moisture can exacerbate the problem.
