How to Plant, Grow, Harvest and Store Garlic.

Garlic's natural cycle is to be planted outside in the fall and to be harvested the following spring or summer, depending on variety. Garlic can be planted in the spring and might mature ok, but fall planting usually gets better results. You can plant garlic anytime in the fall but early October is usually the best time. Plant garlic in a sunny part of your garden where garlic has not been grown for at least three years - garlic grows best in soils where crops have been rotated. Work up and loosen top six inches of fertile garden soil.

The night before your soil is ready to plant, break bulbs apart into cloves and soak the separated cloves overnight in water containing one heaping tablespoon of baking soda per gallon (also adding a TBSP of liquid seaweed, would be even better) or until clove covers loosen around the cloves (about 16 hours). Just before planting, remove the cloves from the water, drain and dip the cloves in a dish of rubbing alcohol for 3 to 5 minutes, long enough for the alcohol to penetrate the clove covers, and plant immediately. These soakings are important and help protect both your garlic and your garden soil from possible pathogens or pests and also stimulate rooting so your garlic gets off to a good fast start.

Plant the individual cloves, bottom (root) end down, with the bottom of the clove being 2" deep in the South, 3" in most of the USA and 4" deep in the Northernmost states and planted six inches apart from each other. Lay a few inches of organic mulch (grass and leaves) over them and water as needed. In the South it will come up and grow almost immediately, but in the North it will not emerge until spring.

While garlic doesn’t need much fertilizer, a little organic compost in the early spring helps. Water weekly or as needed to keep the roots from drying out. You can check by putting your hand down in the soil to bulb depth and if your fingers come out wet, don't water, but if they're dry, water. Since garlic's roots are on its bottom, you can carefully dig down and look at the bulb area to see how they are developing occasionally.

In the spring hardneck varieties send up a stalk called a scape that will develop a bulbil capsule. If you cut the scape before it fully forms, the bulb will grow a little bigger; if not, it will store a little longer.

Harvest in spring/summer when all the lower leaves have died down and only the top five or six leaves remain green. Dig them up carefully, avoiding damage to the bulb. Remove to a dry shady location for a month or so until the necks dry down completely and can be cut without a garlicky smell - then trim off leaves and roots. Most good garlic will store five or six months at room temperature out of direct sunlight.

For more information, please visit our website: gourmetgarlicgardens.com

Gourmet Garlic Gardens
12300 FM 1176, Bangs, TX 76823
www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com
1 - (325) 348 - 3049 - bob@web-access.net