How to Grow Garlic at Home

If you have ever cooked with garlic then you already know the wonderful aroma garlic emits.  Whether you are frying garlic up to mix with some onions for a steak or adding garlic to a sauce, garlic is the epitome of recipe versatility.

So it makes you wonder why garlic is not grown more at home.  Garlic is easy to grow, as you will see, all you need to do is get the space ready in your garden, set up your soil and choose a variety.

Let’s start with the space your garlic will need.  This will depend on how much garlic you want to grow, but when planning, account for 6 inches of space between each garlic clove planted.  In a four foot by four foot raised bed, that accounts for ninety-six garlic cloves planted (if my math serves me correctly).  If that amount is too much, and really, can you plant too much garlic? Just be sure to down size accordingly.

Now that you know your space, you need to set up the soil your garlic is going to grow in.  Garlic loves soil that is rich in organic matter and drains very well.  If you are planting your garlic in a raised bed that will help with the drainage.  As for the soil itself, mixing in some peat or coir with finished compost or even well seasoned manure along with some perlite or vermiculite will go a long way.  As a side note, try to keep your soil’s pH above 5.8 but less than 7.

When planting the garlic clove, the pointed end should be facing up.   If you plant the clove upside down your garlic will develop a curved shoot and that will lead to misshapen bulbs.

Garlic comes in two basic varieties, hard neck and soft neck.  They are then broken down into a larger number of types.  Your local garden center or co-op can tell you which types grow best in your area. 

While you can plant the cloves from the garlic available at your local supermarket, it is not recommended.  You will not be sure which variety of garlic you are getting or whether or not that garlic can even grow in your area.  Purchase plantable garlic cloves from your local garden center, organic if possible.

Once you have your garlic cloves planted, be sure to cover with 3 inches of mulch to help protect them from potential frost.  Straw or hay works great.  This helps protect your cloves as well as keep weeds to a minimum.   It also helps conserve moisture in the soil.

The soil for your garlic needs to be moist.  Water regularly, however, do not overwater.  You don’t want to saturate the soil.

The best rule of thumb when it comes to harvesting your garlic is, when half your leaves are brown and the other half are green, your garlic is ready to be pulled.  This may vary based on variety and your location, but it’s a good rule to get you going. 

Seed Starting with Homemade Starter Pots

Your vegetable seeds come in all shapes and size.  Just as many sizes and shapes your vegetables come in is as many ways and methods to germinate your vegetable seeds.  One way to start your vegetable seeds that I addressed in a previous vegetable seed starting video is to use vegetable seed starting peat pellets.  These are expandable pods that you add hot water to and they expand so you can plant your vegetable seeds in them.  Here is a link to that vegetable seed starting video.

The vegetable seed starting (creative) pots I wanted to talk about today, were a couple of things I have done myself with good success.  The best part of these two vegetable seed starting pot options is that they are made from a couple of household items that you already have in your home.

Of course, as we all know, regardless of what you use as a vegetable seed starting pot, your vegetable seeds do not stand much of a chance, if you do not give your vegetable seeds a great seed starting soil.  You can either buy vegetable seed starting soil, or make your own vegetable seed starting soil with a mix of compost, peat and perlite in equal parts.

Now that you have your vegetable seed starting soil, let’s begin with talking about our first home made vegetable seed starting pot, and that is using empty cardboard toilet paper rolls.  Cardboard toilet paper rolls are great to use.  Cardboard toilet paper rolls are biodegradable, which makes them perfect for starting your vegetable seeds in because as the seeds germinate and the plants grow, the roots will want to expand.  If the cardboard toilet paper roll did not break down, the roots would have nowhere to grow. 

The water and the environment will break down the cardboard toilet paper roll for you, so you do not have to worry about it.  Here is an excellent step by step guide for turning your cardboard toilet paper rolls into vegetable seed starters: http://www.yougrowgirl.com/2007/04/13/toilet-roll-seed-starter/

I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel, and in this case, retelling the same vegetable seed starter story, so I had to link to it since YouGrowGirl.com does a nice job explaining the process of turning your cardboard toilet paper rolls into vegetable seed starters.

The second crafty vegetable seed starting pot you can use is turning in those cardboard egg cartons into vegetable seed starters.  Cardboard egg cartons work great because they are plentiful, making vegetable seed planting and space saving a great combination, and just like with the cardboard toilet paper roll, they will breakdown when you plant them into your garden.

“Growing up Creative” has a wonderful step by step tutorial showing you that it is so easy to start your vegetable seeds in a cardboard egg carton that even a small child can do it!  This is true as I have seen my own 5 year old son use an egg carton to start some vegetable seeds.  Here is a link to the vegetable seed starter with cardboard egg carton tutorial: http://www.growingupcreative.com/2010/03/howto-egg-carton-seed-starter.html

Sure neither of these homemade vegetable seed starting pots is earth shattering news, but if you are looking for some projects to do with the kids, or needed a good use for all of those cardboard ‘extras”, these are two more ideas in your arsenal.