How To grow Garlic

Allium Statius, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium.  It’s close relatives include the onions, shallots, leeks, chives, and rakkyos.  Also known as the stinky rose.

Garlic is easy to grow and produces numerous bulbs after a long growing season. It is also frost tolerant. Garlic can also be grown year-round in mild climates.

Garlic can be grown closely together, leaving enough space for the bulbs to mature, and are easily grown in containers of sufficient depth.

Garlic does well in loose, dry, well drained soils in sunny locations, and is hardy throughout USDA climate zones 4-9.   When selecting garlic for planting, it is important to pick large bulbs from which to separate cloves.  Large cloves, along with proper spacing in the plant bed, will also improve the bulb size.  Garlic prefers to grow in a soil with a high organic material content, but are capable of growing in a wide range of soil conditions and pH levels.

Seed stores and some mail order seed houses sell disease free mother bulbs (sets) for planting and some gardeners have had good luck planting bulbs from grocery stores.  I purchase some sets from my local nursery and planted garlic back in the fall.  I also have some shown below from a grocery store that is sprouting and going to place them in the ground today.  Some reference say you can plant garlic now, but the bulb size won’t be that big.  This year I’m going to give it a shot.

Before planting ensure soil is well drained with plenty of organic matter. The best site is full sun for a healthy growth and big cloves.

Plant in fall for early summer harvest. Break apart the cloves from bulbs but keep the papery husk on each individual clove.

Plant cloves 4 inches apart and 2 inches deep, in their upright position.

The shoots will emerge through the ground after 10-20 days.

Keep the soil moist. Stop watering when leaves start to turn brown.

Did you know other parts if the garlic plant are also edible.  The leaves and flowers on the head are sometimes eaten.  They are milder in flavor than the bulbs, and are most often consumed while immature and still tender.

Garlic plants are said to repel rabbit and moles.  I wonder if this is true. I guess I will find out soon enough. I spotted a mole trail the other day.

Here are some benefits of having garlic in your garden.

• Plant garlic near roses to repel aphids.
• It also benefits apple trees, pear trees, cucumbers, peas, lettuce and celery.
• Plant under peach trees to help repel borers.
• Garlic accumulates sulfur: a naturally occurring fungicide which will help in the garden with disease prevention. Garlic is systemic in action as it is taken up by the plants through their pores and when garlic tea is used as a soil drench it is also taken up by the plant roots.
  
• It has value in offending codling moths, Japanese beetles, root maggots, snails, and carrot root fly.
• Researchers have observed that time-released garlic capsules planted at the bases of fruit trees actually kept deer away. It’s certainly  worth a try!
• Concentrated garlic sprays have been observed to repel and kill whiteflies, aphids and fungus gnats among others with as little as a 6-8% concentration! It is safe for use on orchids too. 

Garlic is pretty amazing.  Can’t wait until it’s time to harvest.

What are you planting this year in your garden?