Get Your Garlic On!
Garlic is such an amazing vegetable. Yes, that’s right and I know what you’re thinking. We usually use garlic as a spice or an herb, but botanically speaking it is actually a vegetable. This spicy flavorful little bugger has so many wonderful benefits! First off, let’s look at the nutritional benefit. Each tiny clove of Garlic is packed with manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, selenium, fiber, calcium, copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin B1. It that’s not enough, garlic also has antimicrobial, antibacterial, and antibiotic properties. Talk about a powerhouse for health! Time to eat more garlic, right?
If you do a little research on garlic, you’ll find a wealth of information about the benefits for our health. It’s phytochemical content has the potential to lower cholesterol (specifically LDL - the “bad” cholesterol). What the heck is a phytochemical you say? They are chemical compounds in plants that protect cells from damage. Since garlic also contains antioxidants, consumption of garlic helps supports the body’s protective mechanisms against oxidative damage and has an impact on reducing blood pressure.
The good new is that garlic is one of the easiest vegetables that you can grow. In Zone 5, we plant in the fall during the time when many summer crops have either been harvested or exhausted the production. This means, you can go ahead and plant garlic in the freed up space from the veggies of a summer past. Just a word of advice... don’t go hog wild and plant the whole garden with garlic because, you won’t be able to harvest and free up that space until next summer. I have my own separate area designated for garlic.
What you may not know is that there are different types of garlic and some are better than others to plant. Here’s some things to consider:
If you're planting garlic from bulbs you previously grew, choose the biggest and best of the bunch. Small ones will produce more small bulbs.
If you’re purchasing garlic, buy the bulbs sold specifically for planting. The regular produce section variety are often treated with a sprout inhibitor to prevent it from growing.
Hardneck garlic have a stiff stem in the center of the bulb. They have a sharper flavor than soft neck and have variation in flavor among the varieties. They're more hardy than soft neck, so they are great for really cold winters. Downfall? Once harvested, they have a shorter shelf life than softneck varieties.
Softneck garlic varieties don't have a stiff center stem. It is the most common garlic at grocery stores. The flavor is milder than hard neck varieties. It is a good choice for mild winters, and the best kind to grow if you want to make garlic braids.
Elephant garlic looks like a ginormous garlic, but it isn’t really “true” garlic. It’s from the Allium family. Although I would say it’s more like a leek.
Growing Garlic:
Plant garlic in fall about four to six weeks before your ground freezes. They will need a little time to grow some roots and get all snuggley in their bed before the long winter.
Loosen the soil at least 8" to ensure it’s not too compact for the roots to grow.
Mix in some slow-release, granular organic fertilizer according to the package instructions.
Break up the garlic heads into individual cloves, but don’t peel the paper off. Leave that in tact.
Plant cloves 3" to 4" deep, (4-5 if in a raised bed) with the pointy ends up.
Water gently, and then cover the bed with a good layer of straw so that the soil will stay warm enough for them to establish roots before the ground freezes.
If you see green shoots popping through in a couple weeks, don’t worry. It’s perfectly normal.
Now, basically, just wait until summer, around June or July (more on that later).
When they begin growing in the spring, all you need to do is keep the bed weeded and watered until harvest time.
Ooh, I almost forgot, depending on the variety you planted, your garlic might form curly scapes in the late spring. Snip it off to allow the plants to direct their energy to producing bulbs. Those scapes are amazeballs in stir fries, salads, with eggs, or just about anything you want to add a mild garlic flavor to.
The experts from Seed Savers Exchange say garlic is ready after “three or four leaves have died back but five or six green leaves remain”. You can check one, by popping it out to see if it’s being enough if you’re still not sure..
If it has recently rained, wait for the soil to dry to harvest. It will be easier. Always dig up your garlic. Never pull it out of the ground because you can break the stalks and separate it from the bulbs. You can use a garden fork, or hand trowel. I usually use my hands (pretty technical here, lol). Just loosen the soil, and gently dig up the bulbs, being careful not to slice or puncture through them. Again, not a disaster if you do nick one. Just use that one first and don’t try to store it. Once you’ve harvested all of your garlic, shake off the remaining dirt by hand.
If you want to store your garlic for later use, you will need to cure it. To do this, brush off any remaining soil that may be clinging to the bulbs. Do not wash them, as much as you want to. You don’t want to get the bulbs wet. Leave the stalks and roots on the bulbs while they cure. Bundle a few stems together (Max of 8 to 10). Tie them together with some garden twine, and hang them bulb-side down in a cool, dark space with good air circulation. If you can’t hang them, lay the garlic flat (single layer) on a screen that is raised off the ground to get good air flow. Let the bulbs to cure for three to four weeks. Keep them out of sunlight. Once the tops and roots have all dried, cut them off and clean the garlic by removing the a little of outer papery skin. Don’t remove so much that you expose the cloves. You can also leave the stalks on them and make a neat braid with the garlic (if you grew a soft neck variety).
Softneck garlic usually stores for six to eight months. Hardneck varieties tend to dry out, sprout, or go soft within three to four months.
Well, there you have it! I hope you’ll give garlic a try this fall. It’s easy to grow and has some amazing health benefits.
Until next time…
Dream Big, Plant Love, and Grow Where You’re Planted!
XOXO - Laurie