How to Grow Garlic
By Sherril Steele-Carlin
“If everybody ate garlic, then nobody would find it objectionable.”
-- Unknown French peasant
Did you know garlic is classified as an herb? My dictionary defines an herb as "A plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic properties." So garlic, and many other plants are really herbs! Whatever you call it, garlic is an incredibly popular flavoring for all sorts of dishes. Growing garlic is really very easy. If you love “the stinking rose,” you’ll love growing your own fresh garlic!
Where to Plant Your Garlic
Garlic loves a rich, very well drained soil. It’s a perennial (which means the plant doesn’t die over the winter, and will return in the spring), but in most climates, it is treated like an annual (grown anew every year). Garlic can be grown from seed, but most people plant the bulblets (or cloves). Plant it in a sunny location in your garden.
How Does Your Garlic Grow?
Garlic and onion are members of the same family (Allium). Garlic grows as a bulb, with only the tall spiked leaves showing above the ground. It can grow up to 3 feet tall, so give it room in your garden.
Garlic bulbs are made up of several bulblets, or cloves, covered by a papery skin. Garlic skin is whitish-tan in early harvested varieties, and a pinkish-rose in later varieties. The plant does produce flowers. They are very small white, star-shaped blossoms on top of stalks that grow from the center of the bulb. It is best to cut back the flowers to allow the plant to develop, as the flowers rarely produce seeds.
Where do you get garlic bulblets? You can try your local nursery or garden supply store. Or, you can try your grocery store! That’s right, just buy a few bulbs of garlic at your local store, separate the bulbs into cloves, and plant each clove separately. Each clove will turn into a new bulb of garlic in your garden.
When to Plant
In many climates, garlic can be planted in the fall. In colder climates, planting in late fall (November, before the first hard freeze), gives the garlic a longer growing season. However, in most temperate gardening areas, it is planted in the early spring, even before the last frost. It enjoys starting life with shorter days and cooler temperatures, which help the leaves develop. During the warmer summer weather the bulbs will develop. Harvesting takes place in the fall, usually in October. You can tell it is time to harvest by the way the leaves turn brown and wilt, bending toward the ground.
How to Plant
Plant the bulblets about 6 inches apart and 2 inches deep, in a sunny, very well drained location. Garlic can endure some shade, but full sun gives the best growth and biggest bulbs. If your soil is not very rich, manure can be added for more fertility. Water the newly planted bulblets well, but don’t let the plants sit in water. Seeds can also be planted, but they take much longer to grow, and are harder to find.
Harvest and Enjoy
Plant the garlic in the fall or early spring. Keep the garlic well watered, but not too damp. Harvest after the leaves turn brown and bend over. Now comes the best part. Peel the papery skin off your very first homegrown garlic clove, and take a whiff of absolutely fresh garlic! It’s wonderful, easy to do, and you’ll never buy garlic at the grocery store again, believe me! Growing garlic, it’s easy, it’s fun, and just about anybody can do it.
