|
How To Grow Garlic
By Polly Hamilton
How to grow garlic:
Garlic is something nearly everybody uses when cooking, but you can never have enough! It is an easy thing to grow; it just might not taste that great. Good garlic can be a challenge to grow, but a challenge you should take on! This article is full of tips from the seasoned grower about how to grow the best garlic you can with minimum effort. For optimal results pick garlic that is best suited to your climate, but you don't need to worry too much about climate, etc, because the majority of garlic varieties will grow anywhere.
How to grow garlic: Planting your garlic
Plant your garlic in the middle of autumn. It develops roots during the remainder of autumn, then rests over winter, and is ready to burst out with growth as soon as spring arrives. It grows and grows during spring, then attempts to go to seed the in hot summer. Garlic can't go to seed though, so it reproduces as many cloves as it can before it becomes too hot for the plant to live anymore. It is important that you pull your garlic out at this point, and store it somewhere warm until you plant it again in the fall. If you don't do this you will have a whole lot of garlic trying to grow in the same place. When you do replant, separate the cloves carefully and plant them with enough room to grow. When growing garlic, use a four year rotation with other vegetables or you will encourage fungal growth in your soil. The damper your soil and weather is, the higher your should plant your garlic (in raised in beds). If your weather is dry plant them lower in the ground. Mulch is a great way to encourage your garlic to grow, about a 3 inch layer is optimal.
How to grow garlic: Preparation:
Garlic is succeptible to many fungal diseases. You can soak your individual cloves for two hours in water with 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda to protect them from disease. Slip them out of their covers at the end of this process (they often contain spores which encourage fungal growth) so it's good to help your garlic get rid of them! If you can, you should then soak them in rubbing alcohol for 4 minutes before planting them immediately. This ensures all pathogens and pest eggs have been killed.
How to grow garlic: tending
It's hard to give a general rule for how much you should water your garlic. The best idea is to research your particular variety, because the size effects how much you should water them. Weed them vigorously, they hate competition. Don't be too concerned with frosts, they are a hardy plant. If it's been below freezing more than 3 nights in a row you should probably cover them, as long as all their sunlight hours are uncovered. The longer you leave a garlic plant to mature, and the drier you let it get towards the end of the season, the stronger flavor of garlic you will get. Some people like this, and some don't, so bear it in mind.
See Also:
More info on how to grow garlic
Home Vegetable Gardening
Copyright © 2005-2006 HowToSite.Net and Accelerated Software Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Any proprietary content contained in this document may not be copied in part or full without express written permission from the publisher.
Contact Us | Terms of Use
|
