Garlic. Growing Your Own Garlic. How To Grow Garlic.

Grow Your own Garlic. Garlic is easy to grow.

To grow your own garlic you need a patch of garden or vegetable plot in a sunny part of the garden. Clear the patch of weeds before you plant your garlic as this will save time later. If you do not have a plot of land try growing some in a plant pot. Growing garlic is really easy and it stores well so you can save money by growing your own garlic.

Buying Garlic.

Now buy your garlic. You can get them from your local garden centres or on buy it on line. There are different varieties these will be either red or white skinned (papery covering on the bulb/head of garlic). Some varieties store better than others.

If you cannot find garlic bulbs to buy as above you can use the ones you buy in a supermarket but the varieties there might not be as suitable for growing in your climate as they will have been imported. having said that I have planted the ones from the supermarket with no problems. Select the firm plump healthy garlic bulbs when buying them as they are best.

Planting Garlic

Plant your garlic sometime between October and February (this is in U.K other countries planting times may vary). Before mid December is best as they need the cold weather to form the individual cloves. I plant mine in October as later than this the weather i.e. frost and rain make it difficult sometimes.

This year I am planting some of the bulbs I harvested this summer, so I do not need to buy any extras . This is the cycle of growth saving some of one harvest to plant in the future can be established with lots of own grown foods. However you should never do this with potatoes as it increases the risk of disease in the crop.

If you are planting your own or supermarket garlic check them over thouroughly for signs of damage or disease before you use them. This includes looking for tiny holes in the surface, soft spot areas or mould.

Plant your garlic between October and December in the ground you have prepared.

Plant them about 10cm. apart with 23-30 cm between the rows if you are short of space.

However if you plant it 20cm apart with 20cm between rows you may get bigger garlic to harvest because of the extra room they have to grow and you may find it easier to weed around them as they grow.

To Plant Garlic.You need to split the bulbs into individual cloves, gently break them apart with your fingers and place one clove of garlic into each planting space with the tips of the garlic plant just below the surface. Firm in gently, best to do this with your hands.

Now they are all tucked up for the winter, except you need to check them until they are established as the birds seem to take great pleasure in pulling them out of the ground. If they do this just replant it. Keep the area weed free as they grow, do not over water. That is it; until summer harvest them in June, July or August.

To Harvest Garlic.

Harvest your garlic when the stems start to turn yellow and bend. With a fork loosen them from the soil, not difficult they are shallow rooted. Spread them out in the sun to dry, best on netting or mesh but if the soil is dry then that will be OK.

Store your dry harvested garlic in a net bag or you cab plait them by forming a rope from their stems.

Store in a cool dry place like a shed or garage.

Garlic will store well, but later in the year the flavour will change, and some varieties are known to store better than others.

Using Garlic - useful cooking hints for garlic -

• When you cook with garlic, if you are heating it in oil, do not overheat the oil as it spoils the taste.
• If you are roasting a chicken you can place a clove or two of garlic into the cavity to help enhance the flavour.
• When you cook with garlic and are left with the smell of it on your hands, the little stainless steel blocks that they sell to remove odours of garlic from your hands - really do work efficiently.

You can also plant garlic in the months of February and March, if the soil is heavy plant it on ridges or fork in grit to improve the drainage. How successful your crop is will depend on the weather that year and your soil type, this does not work well for me on my sandy type soil.

Green garlic is not a different type of plant it is garlic that has been lifted while it is still growing; that is it still has green shoots. While the leaves are still green lift a bulb and use it fresh. Separate the number of cloves you wish to use from the garlic bulb; squeeze them from their natural wrappings, and use it. You can bake it whole or use it crushed in your recipes. It will be both milder and have a creamy texture than the garlic you harvest and use later.

Garlic has long been used for it’s health/medicinal properties and there are references to its use in Roman and Egyptian times.

The more space you give the garlic the better chance you have of growing reasonable sized bulbs. You need to leave enough space for them not to over-crowd each other and to ripen in the sun.

I have grown garlic by just pushing a clove of it into a flower pot full of moist well draining soil and just leaving it on the patio until it has grown and is ready to harvest. I think that the results I have had from growing it on the vegetable plot were better though.