Growing Vegetables

When growing garlic you do not need seeds. Garlic does not produce seeds it clones itself through its cloves. Do not use garlic from your grocery store for planting they have usually been treated to prevent sprouting and is not grown in your region. Look for planting cloves at local farmers markets commercial seed catalogs or from the internet.

Each garlic bulb is made up of several or more cloves held by a membrane. Each clove has two individual leaves and a vegetative bud. The cloves need to be planted in the fall you should sort through your bulbs before planting and plant only the largest keeping the smaller for culinary use. Do not sort your bulbs until right before planting, sorting early will decrease your yield.

The size of the bulb you plant is directly related to the size you will grow. Plant the bulbs with the pointed side up to prevent misshapen bulbs. Space the cloves three to five inches apart, rows should be about 18 to 24 inches apart. Plant about one inch deep and mulch over with about a six inch mulch layer. The mulch will help prevent weeds, preserve moisture and keep the soil temperature cooler, which will increase your yield. Skip the mulch if you can be sure of snow cover for most of the winter. The plants will grow under the snow and will be about two inches tall when the snow melts in the spring. Mulch should also be avoided in very wet climates were the excessive water will be a problem for the garlic causing the root to rot.

Hardneck Garlic can also be grown from bulbils or bulblets. Plant them in early spring and allow them to grow for 18 months. They will first form un-segmented bulbs and then clusters the next summer.

Garlic is a cool season plant and will produce all of its leaf growth when the temperatures are cool and the days are short. When the temperature warms the plant will stop making leaves and start forming bulbs in the middle of June. If the plant has poor leaf development than the bulbs will be small.

Don’t plant them with peas beans or asparagus. Garlic will mask the smell of carrots protecting them from the carrot root fly. Garlic will also deter slugs so plant it to protect your lettuce.

Water the plants once a week during dry weather and stop watering in late July to allow foliage to dry out and die before the harvest. A drip or trickle irrigation system will work the best for garlic. Garlic has a shallow root system and weeds should be removed with care to avoid damaging it. A good mulch will help prevent weeds.

The hard neck garlic will produce a long Scape that will turn into bulbils. The Scape should be removed as soon as it begins developing to increase bulb yields.

Part 1 Growing Garlic

Part 2 Growing Garlic - Planting & Care

PArt 3 Growing Garlic - Harvesting