I try to grow garlic each year, because I prefer home grown garlic to shop bought garlic. Garlic I harvest myself is always fresher, less likely to go mouldy, lasts longer (see: fresher) and I always feel like I’ve been really productive when I’ve got my garlic plaits up and hanging.
We’ve been living here for over three years now and I’m only just getting the garden into a semblance of a rotation system. The “big” garden failed entirely due to chooks and a lack of nutrient in the soil – but with a layer of hay over it and the chooks scratching the hay and grass out, it may be ready to have something planted in it next year.
The greenhouse failed, due to wind and a general lack of ACTUAL strength, able to stand up to you know, ACTUAL WEATHER.
But, my small garden has been working quite well, albeit messily because I haven’t weeded it, I’ve just mulched it and ignored the edges.
Last year, I planted a little square of garlic and harvested around 15 bulbs. I hated that I didn’t have lots. LOTS is always better than some. (Some being better than none, but nothing beating LOTS.)
This year, I went wild and bought 2kg of sprouted garlic cloves and planted them all in the garden. They’re just starting to sprout up through the hay now and I couldn’t be more pleased.
How to grow garlic:
Find youself some sprouted garlic.
Some people use proper seed garlic, but I tend to just use green grocer bought garlic and leave it in my fruit bowl until the shoots appear. I’m pretty sure people will tell me that this is a terrible way to do it and supermarket or green grocer garlic won’t grow properly, but I disagree. It works fine, for me.
Planting:
Once your garlic has sprouted, plant it sprout side up in loamy soil, at about a depth of an inch. If you’ve got a large amount of green shoot, leave it above the soil, otherwise cover the entire thing.
Plant garlic in the middle of winter:
Garlic likes the cold (I’m in Tasmania, we have lots of cold) and I usually plant around late June, early July. I think I remember being told to wait for the shortest day to plant garlic, but I’m terrible at keeping track of the shortest day. BUT, that said, I have planted garlic in August before and it’s done quite well – I just harvested a bit later than normal.
Garlic hates weeds:
You will need to either weed your garlic regularly, or do what I do and mulch heavily around your garlic plants.
Mulch:
Once my garlic has sprouted and I can see the tops through the dirt, I cover the entire garden bed in mulch, to protect the shoots and keep weeds at bay. If I’m being lazy, I mulch the entire bed at the same time as I plant the garlic. It works just as well, either way.
Watering:
Keep the ground and mulch moist, but not terribly wet. You don’t want your garlic bulbs to rot.
Harvesting:
When the tops are about knee high (depending on your height – if you’re a toddler, you’re aiming for waist high tops) and are starting to brown off (usually by the end of summer) then you can harvest your garlic. I usually use a pitchfork and a lot of care to do this.
Then I wash all of the dirt off and plait the garlic into strands, to hang in the kitchen, while wishing that I’d planted more.
You can never have too much garlic.
