Garlic

Ok this is fairly simple, but it always surprises me how many people don’t know this, and also, how many people don’t do it!  Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow, as long as they don’t sit in soggy, wet ground, they rarely have any problems. Garlic does take a fair while to grow, but this is countered by the fact you can grow a year’s worth of garlic in around a meter square. Also once cropped and dried, garlic will keep for up to ten months.

I recommend that you purchase organic garlic bulbs for planting, but it doesn’t really matter if you get these from the supermarket or a seed supplier. Organic is organic and we have had great success growing garlic from the supermarket. Organic garlic from the store will likely be much cheaper too!

Turn One Garlic Bulb Into Many…

Take one garlic bulb and pull off all the individual cloves. Each one of these cloves will grow into a whole new garlic bulb!

To plant – you can plant directly in the soil, or in pots. First make a hole in the soil with your finger that is just a tiny bit deeper than the garlic clove is high. Now pop the garlic clove into the hole, with the pointy end of the clove pointing upwards (very important!). Now just pinch the soil in around the clove.  When done the top of the clove should be just below the surface of the soil. Now repeat the process, but leave a space of at least five cm between each clove.

The best time to plant garlic is October/November, but you can also plant in the Spring. In fact we have planted garlic at various different times and it usually grows pretty well.

If you find some store bought garlic is starting to sprout in the cupboard, don’t throw it away, plant it up and see what happens…