#making this my pinned post for now because I’m proud of this lil guide I made

[artificial-condition]

Growing Garlic 101

It's summertime and that means it's about time to order garlic! Garlic is one of the easiest vegetables I have ever grown, although it takes a while from planting until harvest. Most of that time is hands off, so garlic is something I would recommend to grow if you're new to planting and want something easy (or just want lots of yummy garlic)

What to know before starting

Before getting further, I just want to say that I am in hardiness zone 6b (near zone 7) in the US, so that is my growing experience (what is a/my hardiness zone?). To my knowledge and research, garlic can be grown in a wide variety of climates, including very hot and very cold ones. This post is going to be oriented around US geography and terminology because that's what i know

The first thing to know about garlic is that it is typically planted in the fall, but not harvested until the following summer. Why is it planted so early? Garlic goes through a process called vernalization, which means that it needs a cold period before in order to grow to its fullest potential. In garlic, vernalization is what causes the bulb to split into cloves (rather than just having one big chunk of garlic). The first year I grew garlic, I didn't know that it had to be planted so early so I planted in January. It did pretty good and I was happy with it! Some heads didn't have cloves and some did, so even if you get to it late you'll likely still have something yummy to eat by the end of it!

The next year I grew garlic, I planted it out towards the end of October and I had an amazing harvest! The bulbs were bigger and all had divided into cloves. All this to say, you'll have better garlic if you plant in the fall but if you forget or don't know and get to it late it'll be okay!

Step 1: Picking your garlic varieties

This is such a fun step!!! You can find all sorts of different varieties of seed garlic online, with different colors, tastes, and growing habits. My first year I started with seed garlic I found at lowes; the type I found was your generic grocery bought garlic, which for the most part is a softneck variety called California Early (or California Late).

Softneck vs. Hardneck

You should pick softneck or hardneck depending on the climate you are growing in. Softneck varieties do better in warmer climates while hardnecks are more cold hardy. In my zone 6b, I can grow both hardneck and softneck varieties because I am in the middle of the temperature range for hardiness zones. If you are in zones 1-5, hardneck varieties are recommended for your area while zones 8-12 softnecks grow better. If you are in the middle zones 6-7, you should be able to choose either variety and end up okay :)

Hardneck features

Hardneck garlic differs from softneck most obviously in that it will form a hard flower stem, often called a scape:

These are delicious and should be harvested before the flower opens, when they start to curl. They can be chopped up and used like other vegetables (they're also great in pesto I've heard). I roughly chopped mine this year and put them in a bag in my freezer so I can take them out and add as needed. They have a mild garlic flavor, more herby than the bulbs, and can be used in greater quantity without an overpowering garlic taste

Other differences in hardneck varieties is that they have larger (but fewer) cloves and the cloves peel easier.

Softneck features

Softnecks don't have the hard stalks and also keep good for much longer than hardnecks, so their stems and leaves are better for forming garlic braids:

Because of their superior ability to store well, softneck varieties are the type of garlic most commonly sold in grocery stores. There are much fewer varieties of softneck garlic than hardneck (only a couple dozen vs hundreds of varieties of softneck). There are more cloves in softneck garlics but the cloves are smaller and harder to peel.

Where to order seed garlic

Here are some good places I've found to order seed garlic:

Hudson Valley Seed Company

Johnny's Seeds

Urban Farmer (my favorite, I ordered here last year)

You can also just buy garlic from local farmers/hardware stores! They'll likely have varieties well suited to grow in your area.

Step 2: Planting

After you receive your garlic, keep it whole in the bulbs until time to plant. The general rule is to plant 6-8 weeks before your typical first frost date (where is that for me?), but I found that its okay to do it later than that, especially since climate change is messing with the dates. For reference, my average last frost date is October 11th but I didn't plant last year until October 22. Typically they are planted around September-November, the warmer your climate the later you plant.

Before planting, I recommend adding an inch or two of compost to the top of the soil. This will give them nutrients for the year ahead :)

If you are planting late or have pretty mild winters, one trick is to keep the garlic heads in the fridge (not freezer) for a month or two before planting. This will simulate vernalization and will help them to form cloves and bigger heads!

It is good to plant in a fairly sunny area. Mine has partial shade but they do great there!

When you are ready to plant, separate the bulbs into cloves. Try to keep as much as the papery skin on your cloves as possible as it helps to protect them in the ground, but don't beat yourself up about it. I plant mine roughly four inches apart, shoving them about two inches down with them upright (the hairy root end is the bottom and they taper to a point at the top):

After they're all planted, water pretty deep and mulch about an inch or two deep. This will help protect them from hard freezes in the upcoming winter. You can use whatever you have access to, I recommend things that will decompose so they add nutrients to the soil. I raked up fallen leaves from my yard last year and used those

Step 3: Wait

Now relax! The garlic won't be ready for a long time, so just let it do its thing. I don't really ever water mine because I get pretty consistent rainfall, but you can water periodically if you are in a dry climate. It is good to water before particularly hard freezes, it helps the bulbs have what they need to survive.

You might see the greens popping up if you have warm sprees in the late fall/winter. It is fine to ignore these, they will likely die back when it gets cold again but they will still come right back in the spring. You'll want to remove any heavy mulch in the spring when they start growing (my leaves had mostly decomposed so I didn't need to do this)

Step 4: Harvest time

I water mine occasionally as they are growing in the spring or summer, but for the most part I don't bother. I have fairly regular rain and garlic seems very resilient to water differences.

Your garlic will be ready sometime in May-August, depending on what varieties, when you planted, and your climate.

When it is getting close to harvest, it is natural for the leaves to start dying back a bit, especially with softneck varieties. You'll see the garlic scapes form on hardneck varieties, and will need to cut these off once they begin curling, before they flower:

For softneck garlic, harvest when about half of the leaves have yellowed and died off, starting with the bottom leaves. The tops may start to flop over when ready.

For hardneck, the appearance of scapes means they'll be ready in about 4-8 weeks. The leaves will die off as well, but not near as much as softneck varieties in my experience.

Do not water for a week before harvesting. You want your garlic to dry out some before harvesting :D

Since my garlic is in a raised bed, I have fairly loose soil. Therefore, I can just pull the neck of the garlic right above the ground to harvest my garlic. If you have more compacted soil, it would be best to dig around the clove some before you harvest so that it comes out whole and unbroken.

Congrats!!! Your garlic is ready!!

Step 5: Eating and preserving

At this point, your garlic is all out of the ground and ready to be eaten. If you have more garlic than you can eat within the next couple months, you'll need to preserve it. There's a lot of ways to preserve it, but I'll go over a couple I have done.

Idea 1: cloves in a vinegar

This one is primarily how I preserved my garlic last year and I'll be doing it again this year. It is very simple: just peel your garlic, place in clean jars, pour over hot boiling vinegar, seal, let cool, and store in the fridge! Make sure the cloves of garlic are completely submerged in the vinegar or you risk foodborne illnesses. The garlic has enzymes that prevent the cloves from absorbing the vinegar, and the vinegar prevents any bacteria from growing and causing the garlic to spoil. The cloves don't taste like vinegar and can be chopped and added to dishes as needed!

Idea 2: cure whole heads

This is best done with softneck garlic as they store better for longer than hardneck.

This is essentially letting them dry so they keep longer. After harvesting, keep the heads as is with dirt and leaves still attached (brush off any big dirt clumps but don't scrub them clean). Place the heads somewhere flat, warm, well ventilated, and shaded from too much direct sunlight (can get some indirect sunlight). This can be in a garage, on palattes, hanging somewhere, in a shed, whatever you have that seems best. I did mine on my front porch just laying on the concrete.

Leave them alone to dry for at least two weeks, then store as desired! You can trim the leaves and roots off and clean with a brush if desired, or leave the leaves and dirt and roots and store. I trimmed the roots off, left the leaves, braided them together, and hung in my kitchen:

(here is a video about braiding garlic) (note: it can only be done with softnecks)

Idea 3: make garlic confit

This is such a yummy way to use up garlic. Peel your cloves, add to a saucepan, cover in desired liquid oil, and cook on low until the cloves are soft and smushable. Store in the fridge after letting cool and eat within a week :)

Idea 5: Roasted garlic

Here is a recipe

And that's about it! Enjoy your garlic :D

@yourfriendfrogs

#gardening #garden #gardeners on tumblr #gardenblr #gardencore #food #garlic #garlic 101 #garlic guide #garlic tutorial #garlic how to #how to grow garlic #making this my pinned post for now because I’m proud of this lil guide I made #I need to figure out how to add a read more sorry anyone who hates the long scrolling #edit: figured it out