Plant and Harvest Garlic
From planting to harvest, how to grow garlic for food and natural home remedies
How-to article for growing garlic, from preparing soil to planting, harvest and preserving. Uses of garlic for pest control, cold and flu remedy, insect repellant, etc.
Garlic, a member of the onion family, is prized for the flavor it adds to stews, soups, and pasta dishes. There is strong evidence to show it has great medicinal value for its antibiotic, antibacterial, anticoagulant, and antiseptic properties (it was called Russian penicillin in World Wars I and II) and it is often used as a cold, sore throat, and flu remedy. Garlic also makes an excellent insect repellant and pest control spray. (See Organic Pest Control.)
Fall is the best time to plant garlic, although some people wait until spring. "Plant six weeks before freezing weather starts" is a good general guide. Planting in the fall gives your plants a head start to develop a thriving plant next spring with hardier, larger, more flavorful bulbs. You plant garlic from the vegetative plant parts called cloves, not from seeds or whole bulbs. Garlic takes about eight months to mature. It thrives in cold weather – even if the plant gets frosted, it should recover and start leafing out in the spring.
Plant the cloves in a part of your garden that gets full sun, where the dormant bulbs won’t be disturbed. To prepare the bed, dig the soil to about 8 to 12 inches and amend with compost. Garlic grows best in a highly organic soil. (Read Compost: Organic Fertilizer to learn how to make your own compost. Also check out this blog on how to make compost tea.) Don’t use supermarket cloves – get them from your garden supply. Supermarket garlic has sometimes been chemical-treated to prevent sprouting, and you won’t know if it has been treated or not. Divide your cloves immediately before planting (earlier division may hinder growth.)
Set unpeeled, healthy, large cloves in the soil with the pointy end up, about two inches deep, and spaced five inches apart. (If you plant elephant garlic, set them two-three inches deep and ten inches apart.)
Next, add a layer of compost to deter weeds and retain moisture. Water your plants to the amount of one inch weekly. After the ground freezes in the winter, you may want to pile on more compost as extra assurance to prevent freezing.
Pull back the mulch when the weather warms in the spring. If you cut back the flower stalks and make liberal use of compost tea by spraying it on your plants, you will see larger bulbs when it is time to harvest.
You will know garlic is mature and ready to harvest when the flower cluster begins to deteriorate and the top ¾ of the plant turns yellow. Stop watering 10 days to 2 weeks before harvest so outside of bulbs will harden off. Instead of one bulb, like an onion, your plant will produce a dozen or so cloves, surrounded by thin skin. Harvest by digging the bulbs up instead of pulling.
Wipe clean, keep dry, and dry or cure your garlic thoroughly 2-3 weeks in a single layer in a cool, shady place. You might hang it up in an airy container in a well-ventilated area. After drying, you can remove the tops and roots, or braid the tops together. Keep it at room temperature or lower (40-50°F.) Enjoy your harvest! Don't forget to save your biggest bulbs to plant.
