5 Steps to Growing Garlic!
How To Grow Garlic!
Growing garlic is pretty easy! It is a fun crop to add to your garden and doesn't take very much work to grow! If you are anything like me your household goes through a lot of garlic. It only makes sense to provide fresh, organic garlic from your own garden where you know exactly what has been put on it.
Here are 5 easy steps to Growing Garlic!
Step One: Choose Variety
The first step is what I consider the hardest step, choosing varieties!
There are so many different types of garlic with hardneck and softneck being the biggest classification of differences. Hardneck is considered more cold hardy and provides a second crop as its flowers are cut off in spring before they open and sold as scapes, which can be added to meals for a fancy garlic touch! Softnecks tend to do better in the south and warmer climates and usually has a longer storage life. With over 200 cultivars available you are going to have to research the benefits of each that interest you. Just be sure to purchase your seed garlic from a source you trust.
Step Two: Prepare Bed
Giving your garlic the best soil possible is going to give it the best start. A soil with rich organic matter, well drained and fluffy texture is best. Choose a sunny location that gets 6-8 hours of sun. Get your bed raked out and mostly weed free to allow the garlic to be easily planted and have a great start.
Step Three: Separate Cloves:
When your seed garlic arrives it will be in heads or bulbs of garlic. You want to separate each clove out without disturbing the cloves tightest inner peel. All the extra paper layers surrounding bulb can be peeled off and composted. Be sure to keep different varieties separate so they don't get mixed up. Small paper bag with each name written on it works well. I count cloves of each so I can help determine amount of bed space needed for each.
Step Four: Plant Cloves
Garlic should be planted in late fall or early winter if you are in the south. It's best to plant where other alliums have not been planted recently. Cloves should be planted 4-6 inches apart with root side pointed down. Then lightly cover with an inch or 2 of soil. Be sure to water them in well after planting.
Step Five: Mulch
Final step in planting is to cover with a thick layer of mulch. This is going to protect your young shoots from cold damage and help maintain the proper soil moisture level. Soon you will see shoots coming through the mulch.
Now you just sit back and wait! Keep moisture level even but not too wet. In the spring you will be able to enjoy some scapes from the hardneck varieties. Then in mid to late summer your tops will yellow and die back. This is when you harvest your garlic and enjoy the bounties of your labor!
Here's our video planting our garlic!
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Hey @wholesomeroots, I am a curator from the new Whaleshares Curation Team. I have selected your post to be presented in a live curation discussion on Tuesday 26th December. Your post will be awarded with a 25 Whaleshares vote on the night. I do hope you can come along and spectate. The event will be held in The Curation Lounge on the Whaleshares server. Hope to see you there! Here's a link: https://steemit.com/steemit/@nikflossus/the-seventh-whaleshares-curation-show-with-nikflossus-23-00-gmt-or-6-00est
In springtime, there are masses of wild garlic all over the Valley Gardens at Saltburn (UK). It's amazing to walk through and enjoy the smell. Sometimes I can't help myself but nibble on some fresh shoots. I LOVE GARLIC!!! ;)
A really great post btw @wholesomeroots [resteemed]
Oh, I bet that is heavenly! Thank you!
Indeed it is :)
I can't wait for Spring.............. I think next time I'll dig a few up and grow at home :)
I love garlic and now i need to take the challenge of growing it myself, if i follow through iwill let you know :)
This will be our second year growing garlic...we got about 40 bulbs out of our first harvest in the summer and we're already out!! To be fair, I gifted quite a few - but that's one of the main reasons I grow my own food - to be able to share in the bounty!
The second best part about growing garlic (other than fresh garlic...YUM) is it just about the easiest plant to harvest "seeds" for! We saved a number of our biggest bulbs to replant this Fall for next years harvest! It will literally just keep multiplying and providing us with more and more garlic!!
Yes! exactly! I am really excited to have this much in the ground! hoping to have enough to give away, trade, barter, and sell! If I don't eat it all first!
Soo nice to see you here aswell! :) Really beautiful post and great tips for one day when I'll have a place to plant anything. Thanks for sharing, have a great day n' #keepsteemin :)
Great post! We love garlic. We planted Elephant garlic three years ago, and have harvested them every year since. Very low maintenance, very healthy part of any diet.
Thank you! We eat so much garlic it's insane!
Nice info. We eat a ton of garlic and I've never even considered growing it myself. I'm going to try it.....thank you!
Excellent! I love getting people into gardening!
Copied & Pasted. Resteemed and upvoted too! Nice post that I wll definitely refer people to.
Thank you, I'm hoping it gets good attention.
I had no idea there were THAT many to choose from! No wonder it's tough to pick which ones to try. Looks like you've got a nice selection to look forward to!
Yes! I'm excited to see how they do.
I've never grown my own garlic, but I'm seriously considering it after reading your post. Can store-bought garlic be planted? Or have they usually been bleached and will no longer grow?
You should! Store bought is usually treated with chemicals. If you get some from a local farmers market and use the biggest cloves for planting that would be better and a little cheaper than buying SEED garlic.