Grow your own GarlicHow many times have you eaten Garlic? Ooh probably too many times to count and enough to ward off the vampires, I hope. Garlic can give off an intense odour especially when you are handling it or you have eaten a few cloves in a dish the night before.

Whether you have bad breathe from eating garlic or smell like a garlic factory as it belches out of your pores, I still believe in having garlic in your diet.

Some people prefer to buy one knob of garlic where as I tend to buy a whole bag. Bulk is better, you save money and it reduces the frequent purchasing and impulse buys. If we all took the time to plant some garlic we would be more self-sufficient and healthier for it.

In the kitchen I find certain dishes do require a subtle garlic taste and I find growing garlic for their leaves to be ideal. I love chopping the leaves into salads, omelettes, in dips and other meals. Growing home grown produce tastes flavoursome and it gets the family out into the garden. Garlic is also a great companion plant as it deters unwanted pests and bugs in the garden without using harmful chemicals.

If you’re willing to try your hand at growing garlic be sure to buy the biggest knob of garlic you can find. Shop around if you like as it will pay off in the end. Once you have tracked down your garlic it’s time to get planting.

All you need is a planter, potting mix and a knob of garlic. Break open the garlic knob and pick out the individual cloves. You will see there are small and large cloves in the knob, I use the small cloves because their to fiddley in the kitchen and I don’t like to waste.

Using the small cloves will obviously rear small knobs but in my case I want them for the leaves. If you’re wanting to rear garlic for the knobs than plant out the biggest cloves. Before planting I like to give them a helping hand. I break the peel from around the tip to expose it, then I cut the hard end off the base using a very sharp knife. I find the garlic tends to sprout sooner.

Make as many holes as you need in the potting mix and plant them base first. The top of the garlic is the narrow part. If you’re planting just for the culinary leaves I tend to leave the tips just peaking out of the potting mix and plant them close together. If you’re wanting to grow garlic knobs then plant the cloves 5cm deep and 10-12 cm part. They prefer full sun so give them water and watch them grow.

In time your garlic will try to grow a long stalk it usually means it’s wanting to flower and you don’t want that. A flowering plant uses up lots of energy and you want the energy focused on growing the garlic so cut the flower off.

Harvesting your garlic is really easy, just wait for the bottom leaves to brown and they should be ready to harvest. You might want to poke around in the soil and see if they are ready to be dug up carefully. Rub off the dirt lightly and voila!

If you are wanting to know more about garlic like storing and drying techniques I suggest you pop over to Boundary Garlic Farm for a look.