(C)love garlic? Follow these 8 Steps to Grow Your Own!
Want to grow your own garlic this year? Now is the perfect time to get planting! Here in mid-Missouri, mid-October to early November is the ideal time to sow those garlic seed cloves in your garden (and keep the Halloween vampires away). Read below for CCUA’s top tips for garlic growing:
Choose good garlic cloves!
You can get special garlic “seed” bulbs from farmers market vendors that perform well in our specific climate. Organic, untreated garlic from the store can also work well.
2. Plant!
Place one clove (ideally with the papery skin intact) with the pointy end up in a two inch deep hole in your pot or garden and cover with soil. Plant cloves at least 6 inches apart so they have room to grow.
3. Cover!
Cover with about 4 inches of straw or leaf mulch and water deeply.
4. Leave them be until summer!
Green sprouts may pop up in the fall and die back with the frost, but your garlic will still be doing its thing in the ground. Water in the early summer when soil feels dry, about once or twice a week. Stop .. watering when the bottom leaves start to brown.
5. Harvest those scapes and cook them up!
If growing a hard neck variety (which does best in our winters), curly stalks with flower buds will pop out in the early summer. Snip or pull these off when they’ve curled over once or twice to send the ….plant’s energy to the bulbs. Scapes taste great pan-fried or on top of your favorite pizza. Check-out some more recipe ideas here!
6. Harvest!
Feeling the summer heat? Time to harvest the bulbs! Pull them up when half or more of the garlic leaves are dry and brown.
7. Dry those bulbs out!
In a cool, dark place, hang up groups 5 or lay them out in one layer on a newspaper. When leaves are completely dry, cut them off and store bulbs in a pantry or cabinet until ready to use.
8. Plan Ahead!
Last, but not least, save the largest, nicest looking bulbs to plant next year!
