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Off The Grid Living: 7 Steps To Growing Healthy, Tasty Garlic
Greetings,
7 Steps To Growing Healthy, Tasty Garlic
Written by: Lindsey Cox Survival Gardening
planting garlic
Garlic is one of the easiest things you can grow in your garden, regardless of your gardening background or years of growing experience. It’s virtually maintenance free and even folks with so-called “brown thumbs” can grow it with great success. (FYI – I don’t believe in brown thumbs.) Garlic is a beautiful and functional plant – almost everyone loves the unique flavor.
Garlic is also good for you. Researchers have concluded that a diet rich in garlic can help you reduce your chance of heart disease, may lower your cholesterol, and can help you maintain a healthy blood pressure.
One of the best things about growing garlic is that you can grow enough garlic in just one season to store and use for an entire year. How many plants can you say that about? If you’re going to grow garlic this season, you’ll need to get it in the ground soon … very soon. With that in mind, we’ve gathered together our very best tips for growing garlic at home.
Garlic should be planted in the fall when temperatures begin to drastically cool down. For most of us, that means somewhere between early October and mid-November. The key is not planting too early when temperatures are still hot, but also not waiting too long. You’ll want to make sure to get your garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze. Otherwise, the ground may be too hard for planting.
Step One: Pick a good location for your garlic.
Garlic grows best in full sun, but it can still grow well in partial shade. It also likes well-drained, rich and organic soil. So keep these two factors in mind when picking the location for your garlic bed. Raised beds are a great option for growing garlic. You can also grow garlic in containers if you are a patio gardener or have limited space. Just make sure you use containers that drain water well.
Step Two: Plant your cloves.
To plant garlic, you simply put your garlic cloves (the small sections of the garlic head or bulb) in the ground. Each clove you plant will grow into a new head of garlic. Before planting your garlic cloves, it is recommended that you soak them in a jar of water for a few hours. Do not peel the cloves. These steps will help protect your crop from fungal diseases.
Plant the garlic cloves with the flat end down and the pointed tip up. Plant the cloves approximately 2 inches below the soil line. Space your cloves about 6-8 inches apart. You can plant them closer together if you are using a container or have limited space, but your heads of garlic will not grow to be as large.
Step Three: Perform basic garlic maintenance to get your crop off to a good start.
Remember we told you that garlic is easy to grow? Well, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean your garlic plants won’t need a little bit of TLC along the way.
A few easy maintenance chores can really help your garlic grow into big, healthy bulbs:
Keep weeds and grass to a minimum in the garlic bed. Allowing them to take over the bed will choke out your garlic. Pull weeds and grass as needed.
Place a layer of organic mulch (straw, dried grass clippings or shredded leaves) on your garlic bed after planting. This helps keep moisture in and pests out.
Water your garlic bed or containers after planting. The plants will need approximately 1 inch of water each week in the autumn and early winter….MORE HERE
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