Growing Garlic

[CaptainK]

Hi All,
I would like to try and grow my own garlic. Living in the north east it is starting to get cold. And all I know about trying to grow garlic is that bulbs should be planted in the fall for harvest in the spring/summer.

Can someone give me some pointers on planting and growing garlic?

- Can I just go to the grocery store and get a garlic head and peel off some bulbs and plant them?

Thanks,
CaptK

[opabinia51]

Sure, just buy some cloves from a nursery (the ones from supermarkets are treated with chemicals so that they don't germinate, though they still will germinate but, you'll have better results with nursery stock).

Separate the cloves out and plant them in the soil about a couple of centimeters (one inch) deep. Leave them be until next spring. (Give them a watering if the soil is still dry.

That's about it. Not much to it.

[grandpasrose]

Just a note Captain K! Garlic is actually considered a biennial plant. When you plant your individual cloves in the fall, by the end of next summer, they will have just grown a huge single clove, or divided in many very tiny cloves of a garlic bulb. You can pick them this way, but if you leave them in another year, you will get a full grown bulb of garlic.
So the secret of having garlic every year, is to plant cloves every year, knowing they'll take two years. But if you plant every year, you will have a crop every year, except the first year, unless you harvest them before they are fully developed.
What I did the first year, is planted double the cloves for the garlic I wanted, then when I harvested the first year, I only harvested half of them, knowing they were not fully developed. I left the other half in for it's second year, and planted another batch!
VAL

[The Helpful Gardener]

ANd think about the new green garlic for a yearly crop; nice milder flavor and you can harvest just as much as you need and use it with a quick chop. Nice for the smaller herb garden (like mine)

Scott

[opabinia51]

Mmmmmmm, I love garlic!

Garlic is also a companion plant to many vegetables. Look it up in the companion plant tables in the.... (either organic or veg garden forum) and inter plant your cloves with the companion plants. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.

Plus, you will have set up your own little mini permaculture and guild.

[grandpasrose]

We use tons of garlic so we grow alot of it. One of my raised beds is devoted completely to rotating garlic.
Garlic is also good for keeping away some of those nasties in your rose garden if you plant it amongst your rose bushes.
VAL

[SquashNUt]

I have bought garlic from Wal-mart and the local ding and dent store and it grew. No problem, another good place to get garlic is at road side produce stands. I got a start of elephant garlic that way.
T am in zone 5 and I will be planting my garlic this week. from garlic I harvested in july.

[opabinia51]

Hi SquashNut, glad to have your information. Am I to assume that you grow a plethora of Squash in your garden?

This year I grew Sweet Dumpling, two varieties of pumpkin, Sunshine squash and planted butternut but, I guess the sweet dumpling took over that.

I actually have squash coming out of my ears right now.

[SquashNUt]

yes I grow lots of squash, I like it cause it stores with out too . much fuss.
I have not for some reason had much luck with butternut, however.

[Grey]

Woah- I have garlic growing in the bin! I was away for a few days and then didn't cook right away - so I just put six garlic heads into little pots and now I look into my onion bin and I have one that sprouted nearly four inches in my absence.

Going to need a whole lot more than those six but it is nice to see something young and growing in your window. I must admit I enjoy the young plants greatly - you check them every morning, and they are noticeably bigger every day.

[opabinia51]

Last fall I planted about two to three heads of garlic throughout what is going to be the corn area of my garden. It'll be intersting to see if they have sprouted my spring.