How to Grow Organic Garlic

Garlic is packed with flavour and so many health properties. Garlic is planted on the shortest day and harvested on the longest day, however it can be planted in both autumn and winter. Plant in the fall and you’ll find that your bulbs are bigger and more flavorful when you harvest the next summer.There are a lot of decisions to make when choosing garlic to grow! Hardneck or Softneck, many cloves or few, mild flavor or spicy! The question is which type of garlic to plant and how? Once you have decided which garlic you will grow, and how much, you can begin to plant and enjoy all its health benefits. There are many varieties of garlic that can be planted and are great for making tasty dishes and improving health. The most important when growing organic garlic is to get the largest bulbs possible!  

Here are my tips on how to grow organic garlic successfully at home.

Make sure you choose seeds from known sources and realize that as you will use these seeds through multiple growing seasons and their yields will improve over time! 

Check out this big list of various types and high quality of garlic that are perfect for growing in your garden!

. How To Plant Garlic Bulbs .

The timing of growing garlic may vary with local climate. In areas that get a hard frost, plant garlic as early as 6 to 8 weeks before the first fall frost date, before the ground freezes, Garlic can be planted in the spring but fall planting is recommended for most gardeners. Plant in the fall and you will find that your garlic bulbs are much bigger and more flavorful when you harvest. Garlic grows best in rich, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter  such "chicken manure " and free of weeds.

. Break garlic bulb apart into individual cloves, be careful to keep the papery skins covering each clove intact, examine each bulb carefully and remove any bulbs that display mold or abnormalities that may indicate disease.

. Select the biggest, firmest, bulbs with the biggest cloves. Big, healthy cloves will produce big heads of garlic.

. Choose a location with full sun, that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day. Dig a furrow about 3 inches deep, and place the cloves into the furrow one by one, spacing them 6 to 8 inches apart. Placing your garlic cloves at the right spacings and planting them at the right distance below the soil can help to ensure your garlic will grow well. Be sure the flat root end is down and the pointy end is up.

. Cover garlic cloves with 2 inches of soil and water well, after that lay down a protective mulch of straw, chopped leaves or grass clippings. In cold winter regions the mulch should be approximately 4 inches thick. This will help to prevent the garlic roots from being heaved out of the ground by alternate freezing and thawing.

Watch How  to Plant  Garlic Cloves

The cloves will set down roots over the next few months, and then in Spring, you will start to see lovely green shoots popping up out of the soil.

When the leaves begin to grow, it is important to feed the garlic plants to encourage good growth.

Use composted chicken manure to fertilize garlic as composted chicken manure not only helps to build the health of the soil by adding organic matter and increasing water holding capacity but it also acts as a fantastic fertilizer adding vital nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to garlic plants.

How to Fertilize With Chicken Manure Video

 Pests And Diseases 

There are two diseases which you may find on garlic "Rust" and "White rot". Rust appears as rusty coloured spots on the leaves and the only cure apart is avoiding growing garlic in the same place for 3 years. White rot, which decays the roots and eventually the bulb. White Rot is a fungus that attack garlic in cool weather. The spores can live in the soil for many years. The fungus affects the base of the leaves and roots. You need to make crop rotation.

Harvesting Garlic

Harvest garlic time depends on when you plant the bulbs, so it is best to check upon your plants regularly. In warmer climates, i begin to harvest my organic garlic as early as spring.

Once the tops of your garlic plants start to die back and you see the leaves starting to decline you know it’s time to harvest! 

When you see the leaves starting to decline, stop watering. This dry spell will help to cure the garlic.

If you harvest too soon you will result with smaller cloves that don’t store well if you  leave the bulbs in the ground too long, this will causes the cloves to burst out of their skins, making them unstorable and vulnerable to disease . Harvest your garlic when the tops begin to yellow and fall over, before they are completely dry.

. lift carefully the bulbs with a spade and don't dig too close to the heads .

.  Pull the plants, and carefully brush off the soil.

. let them cure in an airy and shady spot for at least two  weeks.

Curing Garlic Bulbs

Curing usually takes from two weeks to two months, depending on the humidity. When your garlic is ready for storage the leaves will be completely dry and brown, and roots will look shriveled and be hard like a brush. Also, the bulb wrappers will become dry and papery. Once the bulbs are cured the skins will be papery and dry.

Storing Garlic Bulbs

Once the bulbs are cured check for any diseased, damaged or bruised bulbs and remove them. It is also the right time to select the bulbs you want to use for replanting next growing season. Choose the biggest, and the healthiest, put them aside and store them separately from the bulbs that will be consumed. The optimum storage temperature for bulbs for replanting is 10°C.

Garlic bulbs may be stored individually with the tops removed, or the dried tops may be braided together to make a garlic braid to hang in the kitchen or storage room.

Now that you know how to grow organic garlic try to grow your own and enjoy an endless supply of one of the world's healthiest foods! 

Hope this was helpful, happy organic gardening!

Garlic Bulbs Are Available from HERE!

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