Planting Garlic

Whilst Garlic is expensive to buy in the shops at around £1 per bulb, it is very easy to grow yourself, and one bulb can breakdown in to as many as 20 garlic cloves, each of which when planted will grow to form a full sized garlic bulb. So even buying one large garlic bulb from the shops and then planting it could save you £20.

It really is very easy to look after, as it requires virtually no maintenance once planted. And as it can be planted in containers then you can grow it even in a small city garden. These characteristics mean that it is ideally suited for a novice gardener to grow.

Garlic will grow in most fertile soils, but it will not grow well in acidic soils, so if you know that your soil is acidic, or suspect that it is then test it and apply lime to it as necessary to decrease the acidity of the soil. When it comes to soil types then note that lighter soils will result in whiter bulbs, whereas heavy soils will result in the production of large garlic bulbs.

Planting garlic is very easy, simply break the bulb down into its individual clothes, then check them for damage or any signs of rot and discard those cloves. The remaining cloves can then be pushed into the soil with the larger tail pointing upwards. Push them down until they are around ½ inch below the surface of the ground, keeping cloves around 6 inches apart.

As I mentioned it can also be grown in containers, and you will have to plant it closer together with 3 cloves of garlic in a 6 inch pot, and 6 in an 8 inch pot. Note that unlike most other plants garlic can be planted straight outside, it does not need cultivating inside at all, indeed it needs the cold to create a chemical reaction in the garlic clove to make it breakup into new cloves to form the new bulb of garlic.

The soil needs little cultivation other than keeping free of weeds and regular watering, although do not overwater it. The garlic is ready to lift out of the ground when around 10% of the plants have wilted over, it should then be hung up and allowed to dry for around two weeks. During this time it will dry out to the stage that virtually all moisture has been removed, at this stage avoid over drying the garlic cloves as this can make them brittle.

I hope you found this simple guide to planting garlic useful. If so then find out more about How To Grow Garlic or if you are having problems with it find out about Garlic Pests And Diseases

By Richard Allen -