Garlic or allium sativum, is a member of the onion family. Cultivated by humans for thousands of years, it has served as food, medicine, and talisman. While its rich variety of uses in the kitchen make it indispensable to cooks, its easy nature and companionable benefits should earn it a place of honor in every home garden. It requires little maintenance after its initial fall planting, provides pest protection and soil fertility to its neighboring plants, and is ready to eat before most other crops.
Best of all, it is simple to save some of the garlic you grow to plant your next batch, as it only takes one clove to grow next year's bulb! Because the hard part is done before we even depart from our winter cocoons for spring digging, garlic growing really is gardening made easy!
Choosing Good Cloves to Plant
If you do not have homegrown garlic to start with, you will have to buy or trade to get some healthy stock to plant. Many organic seed companies offer garlic cloves in the fall, and they are generally of good quality. One of the problems with choosing catalog stock, however, is that it generally comes from another area of the country, and is therefore more adapted to that region's growing conditions. To find good local garlic for growing that will support your region's farms and sustainable practices, as well as be suited to your garden's conditions, try to find garlic at a local festival or farmers market.
Garlic has soared in popularity over the past decade, as food interest has been piqued in the general public, and many fall harvest festivals have sprung up devoted solely or in part to garlic. By meeting the growers you can get good planting and care advice and help keep their growing profitable and productive in their own region. If all else fails, ordering from a catalog is not a bad alternative, but try to speak to a representative about what varieties perform well in your specific conditions.
When to Plant
In most areas whose temperatures drop below freezing for several months during the winter, garlic planting is done in the fall, and the plant overwinters underground emerging on its own in the early spring. In other warmer areas, garlic can be planted after the winter months. Be sure to get your cloves in before the ground freezes. Check your local agricultural extension if you are not sure when that is. Or, just be sure to plant early enough. Some ancient traditions recommend planting garlic on the autumn equinox.
Others say the shortest day is for planting (winter solstice) and the longest day is for harvesting (summer solstice). This may work for some areas, but most gardeners will need to plant before December to ensure diggable soil. The cloves will quickly develop roots after being planted and before going dormant for the winter. The longer they have before winter's chill, the more they will grow. For this reason, you may be inclined to err on the early side. Just be sure to cover any greens that sprout up if they have time to develop before winter.
Preparing Your Site
Choose a place where onion family members have not been grown in at least one year. Because garlic will spend the winter underground, susceptible to standing water from snow and rain, it is essential that your site have good drainage. You might want to use a raised bed, mounded area, or even a container. Garlic responds well even in tight spaces and is generally open for experimentation. Because you will be planting many cloves and not just one plant, you may want to vary your locations to see where it performs best. It will need loose, fertile soil and decent sunlight exposure. It is generally left alone by pests, so you might even place it outside a fenced area if space is limited. It also looks lovely intermixed where other plants will grow in the spring, and its allium smell keeps insects and diseases at bay.
Planting
Crack apart bulbs and choose the largest cloves for planting. Small cloves require just as much work as large cloves, but generally result in smaller heads. It is best to eat the small cloves rather than plant them. Discard any that are damaged or soft. To maintain their moisture and viability, try to plant cloves within a few days of separating them. Plant garlic 5-8 inches apart, approximately 1-2 inches below the surface of the soil. You may wish to amend your soil before planting with chopped leaves, seaweed, fish emulsion or other organic materials. To prevent frost heaves and frosted sprouts, add a protective layer of leaves or compost several inches thick as winter mulch before leaving them for the season.
What Comes Next?
Your garlic is taking a break underground, so for the winter, spend some time choosing new garlic recipes to try after the harvest! If you experience particularly windy or wet weather, check your site periodically to be sure your cloves are well covered by soil and mulch and not exposed to the elements of winter. A snow blanket is also an excellent protectant.
For Spring and Summer Garlic Growing read on.
Lauren Tamraz - Lauren Tamraz has considered herself a writer since elementary school, when she began penning sequels to her favorite stories in a spiral ...
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