Growing Garlic
A Quick Guide to Growing Garlic
The garlic that most of us see in the supermarket is softneck garlic, but if you are considering growing garlic yourself, you can choose from either softneck or hardneck varieties. The hardneck type has a hard stock in the middle of the above ground plant. It is many times less productive than the softneck because it divides its energies between the growing garlic bulb and the above ground stalk.
The reason you see more softneck garlic in the supermarkets is because it stores better, making it preferable for shipping. If you are growing garlic at home, you will probably develop a preference for one or the other. Loam soils are the best for garlic as they like well-drained soil, and loam has just the right texture for growing garlic. If you test your soil, aim for a pH of between 6 and 7. Lime is a good way to feed the soil should it fall below this number.
Garlic does not have true seeds so the cloves are planted to grow new garlic plants. You can buy these anywhere you buy other gardening plants. The garlic cloves you can buy in the supermarket are not suitable for planting. Time is important for growing garlic and the best time for planting is in the fall. The bulb underground needs the colder temperatures of winter to set itself for growth. Generally, garlic is planted about two weeks after the first killing frost. Ideally, it will develop roots and shoots that protrude from the bulb but do not come through the ground before winter.
The best results with garlic seem to come from planting in a bed. The bulbs should be around six inches apart and the beds about thirty inches apart. It can be planted in a long row if that is the only suitable space you have for it. You should plant the garlic clove two to three inches below the soil. Make sure you stand the clove with the pointed side facing upward. About a month after planting, you need to cover the garlic with three to four inches of mulch to bed it for the winter.
After your plants have started to grow in the spring, you will need to keep the area as weed-free as possible. Weeds compete for the space the garlic bulb needs to grow. Garlic is susceptible to most of the same diseases and insects as onions. These include white rot and fusarium, which is also a rot. The rots are best eliminated by planting in well-drained soil and rotating your crops so that garlic is not planted in the same spot year after year.
The onion thrip, onion maggot, and wireworm are the most often seen garlic pests. Check with your local county agricultural extension agent for pests and treatments in your location.
Garlic is ready to harvest in late July or August when approximately half of the tops have died and half are still green. To be certain, dig out one of the garlic bulbs as a test. Garlic can be stored up to five or six months in a cool, dry place.