Growing Garlic at Home

 Photo credit by London Permaculture

Like tulips, daffodils and other bulb plants, autumn is the prime time to get your crop started. Despite its close association with Mediterranean cuisine, garlic is reported to have originated in the colder regions of Europe, parts of Russia and China.

Choosing Varieties and Planting Stock

Soft necks are the type that is braided, hard neck are the type one often finds in grocery stores and Elephant, as its name suggests, is quite large. Like many vegetables, the larger the head, the milder the flavour, so if you like a strong garlic flavour, Elephant may not be the one for you

It is my belief that good planting stock is essential. I have heard of people having success growing garlic from heads they picked up in the grocery store and that is certainly an option. However, you should know that some of this garlic is treated with an anti-sprouting hormone. This is fine for eating and storage, as you do not want garlic to sprout in storage. However, you do NEED it to sprout if you intend to grow it. So, just be prepared if you choose this as your growing stock.

Photo credit by Grant Bowles

 

Planting and Mulching

In the autumn, your primary goal is to get your garlic settled and putting down roots to hold it through the winter. Just before planting, gently break apart your bulbs (heads) peeling away the papery outer skin and separate the cloves. If any are damaged, bruised or misshapen, keep them for eating rather than planting. Generally speaking, the larger the clove, the larger the bulb will be. However, we tend to plant both large and small bulbs for bio-diversity.

Garlic does not like to have wet feet and so you will need well-drained earth. We also amend our soil with compost and bone meal as it helps with root development.

Plant each clove with the pointy end up to a depth about 2 ½ times its size. Space them about 15cm apart…they do not like competition and you need to leave room for bulb growth.

After watering, mulch your beds,  leaf and grass cuttings will do just fine.

Tending in spring

At this time you want to concentrate on leaf and stalk production. At this point your plants will need a good amount of water, about 3 times a week. Keep watering at this rate during the bulbing stage. Stop water about two weeks before harvest as this allows the wrappers to dry out a bit and stops disease from setting in from mould.

If you grow hard neck varieties you will encounter garlic scapes. These are tall, thin stalks that grow from the middle of your plant, usually with a little bulb on the end. These bulbs are actually seeds that can be cultivated over a few years. There are differences of opinion on cutting these, some saying that keeping them on leads to better storage life while others say that cutting them leads to larger bulb growth. These make good eating in any way that you might use garlic.

Harvesting, Curing and Storage

Photo credit Hafiz Issadeen

It is always a challenge to decide when to harvest a root crop where you can’t actually see the end product. If you harvest to soon, your crop is too small, if you harvest to late you risk rotting. We have found it best to harvest when the outer two to three layers of leaves turn brown and die back, but there are still some green leaves. You should dig rather than pull garlic. Just dig in with a small spade, about 10cm from the centre and gently lift it up.

At this point your garlic needs to be "cured" or dried for a couple weeks. Keeping their stems on, you can hang your garlic in any well-ventilated place, out of direct sunlight, as garlic can sunburn.

After they are cured, you can braid them if they are soft neck varieties or for hard necks, cut off the stalks, dust off the dirt and store them in a well-ventilated dark place. Light and moisture cause sprouting, which you want to avoid as this makes the taste bitter. In this manner, your garlic should keep well for about 10 months.

For more information I would recommend the following website:

http://www.thegarlicstore.com

Good luck with your garlic growing!