The first question we need to answer is,
when to plant garlic? Garlic is a bulb so it should be planted in the fall,
generally a couple weeks before the ground freezes, you want there to be good
root development, but don’t want any sprouting to occur.
Another question besides How to Grow Garlic?
Should be what type of garlic, There are two main categories of garlic,
Hardneck Garlic and Softneck Garlic. If you are going to go through the
fabulous effort of growing garlic, you should grow something gourmet and
unique. You can find many amazing varieties of seed garlic online or possibly
even at your local farmers market.
Now that we know a little more about when
and what to plant, we can answer the question you searched for today, How to
grow garlic? After you have selected your garlic seed take your precious bulb
and break it into the individual cloves, If you have limited space and you only
want to plant a few carefully select the best cloves to plant. Best cloves may
mean size, shape and of course disease free. You should always do your best to
select organic garlic. Garlic is very hearty and strong there is no reason to
buy garlic that has been treated with unnecessary chemicals that you would
never want to introduce to your own garden.
Garlic does best with a well prepared bed
of rich soil, space your cloves 6 inches apart and plant about 3 inches deep.
After you have planted your garlic, I find it very beneficial to mulch either
use Grass clippings, straw, hay, leaves or anything that you can use to cover
your beds for the winter, It helps regulate the temperature so you don’t have
rapid fluctuation and it helps keep down the weeds come spring and summer.
I also use a raised bed, Garlic’s worst
enemy is too much moister it really helps to regulate this with a raised bed.
Any excess moister has a better way of escaping.
Now that you have selected and planted your
garlic, you need to await spring, when spring comes keep the garlic weeded
well. Garlic is a root crop so you don’t want any space being used up for weeds
to choke or inhibit bulb growth. Water like you would any vegetable garden, you
want the soil moist but not wet.
Harvest time is in early to mid summer, I
look for the leaves to start dying back when I get about 40% dead
(brown/yellow) and 60% alive (green)I harvest. Then let it cure in a ventilated
area for about three weeks. And you will have your very own garlic!
How to Grow Garlic, Growing garlic is easy
– Find more information at http://www.growinggarlic.ca/growing-garlic/
