Growing Garlic in a Home Garden

Growing garlic in your home garden is relatively easy. It does require care and attention. The simple maintenance is weeding because garlic does not like competition and watering. It is important to harvest on time and cure it properly.

Even though garlic will grow under a wide variety of soil conditions, it is said to prefer free draining loam with lots of organic matter. Therefore soil preparation could be building up your soil with green manures. A way of putting organic matter, nitrogen and other nutrients into the soil is to grow a nitrogen-fixing cover crop such as clover, alfalfa or field peas. When the crop is anything around a foot high till it back into the soil.

Under most conditions, garlic does best when planted in the fall. You should plant in time for the roots to have a chance to develop and the tops do not reach the surface before winter. If you live in a warmer climate remember that hard neck garlic needs to go through a cold period in order to start sprouting. If your soil temperatures stay warm, store the garlic in a cool, dry place for about three weeks before planting.

Shortly before planting garlic you will want to break the bulbs apart into cloves—a process called ‘cracking’. The cloves are attached to the basal plate, and from this the roots of the garlic grow. Each clove should break away cleanly, leaving an intact little mark on the basal plate. Take the larger cloves to plant. Set aside the smaller ones to cook with, eat soon, dry or to make into pickles. Each larger clove will produce a good sized bulb by the end of the growing season. The smallest cloves require just as much space, care and attention in the garden and produce significantly smaller bulbs. It is best to separate the cloves or crack the bulbs close to when you know you are going to plant, preferably within 24 hours. The garlic will be able to set roots quickly.

Garlic can be planted in single or double rows or in intensive beds with four to six plants across. Plant garlic in well-tilled beds with about eight inches of space between the rows and between the plants. If you have to plant with tighter spacing in the beds, you will produce a greater number of smaller bulbs. It is important to plant hard neck garlic with the top (pointy end) of the clove up, at least two inches below the surface.

After the garlic has been planted, consider adding a layer of mulch. Mulching is good to conserve moisture, moderates soil temperatures, puts weeds at bay, and deters rodents from digging up all your hard work. Mulching is not recommended in wetter climates where excess water can be a problem for garlic. Garlic grows best in soil maintaining an even moisture regime. Not enough moisture means that garlic does not develop a full sized bulb. Too much water causes the garlic to have burst skins and mould.

A few weeks before you plan to harvest stop watering the garlic. To know when to harvest, inspect a few bulbs in the ground. They can be harvested when the bulb has reached a good size, the wrappers are intact and have not deteriorated, and the bulbs have not begun to split open. Learning exactly when to stop watering and when to harvest comes with experience. Use a flat, narrow-bladed shovel to loosen the ground beside the garlic and pull the plants by hand. Garlic bruises easily so be careful. When left in the sun, harvested garlic can bake and will change the flavor of the garlic. Take each batch of harvested garlic indoors to be cured.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.