It’s important when growing garlic to avoid the ones laced with chemicals found in store (most garlic is sprayed with chemicals). It’s best to plant garlic in Autumn, and avoid harvesting in a rainy season.
First you need select the type of garlic you want to grow. Then, prepare the garden bed. A soil pH of 6-7 is ideal with lots of sunlight and mulch on it.
Next, plant your garlic, water in well and place rows 1 foot apart from one another. Next, nurture your garlic with weed control and regular watering. Lastly, harvest the garlic and cook a great meal with it! That’s the quick steps…
Growing Garlic Which Varieties – Soft Neck or Hard Neck?
Here’s what themicrogardener.com explains on choosing garlic varieties in their 5 step guide:
Soft neck varieties braid and store well; produce 12-13 cloves/head but have no flower stem and suit warm climates with mild winters. Hard neck garlic types send up a hard, flowering stem so are less suitable for braiding, are milder tasting but have a shorter shelf life as they have less layers of skin around the bulb. Select varieties that grow well in your local climate zone.
The full post via themicrogardener.com covers these 5 Steps:
- Select & prepare your garlic
- Prepare your container or garden bed
- Planting
- Nurture Your Garlic
- Harvest
Need more ideas on growing garlic?
Adam at Gardenersworld.com, serves up four easy steps for growing your own garlic, with an extra bonus tip about how to get the best results. Details via gardenersworld.com
Uses For Garlic For More Than Cooking
Part of our focus at PCT is to share information we find on plants, this includes incorporating them in our every day lives.
For example, you may grow herbs, lemons, flowers and veggies. But what is the next step? What can you do with all these items.
What often happens is our “crops” come in and we grew more than we can use. That’s why we publish some of these “other things” besides plant care info… For example, garlic is a wonderful garden addition for use in the kitchen. Ecosalon.com shares 20 uses for garlic like: Acne, Pesticide, Cold sore treatment, using as a plant Mosquitoes hate and more at via Ecosalon.com
How To Control Aphids With A Natural Garlic Spray
In hot weather aphids enjoy attacking. Some people use companion planting to fight pests. Using this “idea” you can make a garlic pests spray which many use as their weapon of choice to fight aphids.
At SeedParade.co.uk they have a garlic spray recipe along with some recommendations on its use. Easy to use and effective.
Making A Garlic Paste… In A Baggie
Garlic paste is a useful item to have around the kitchen. You can make the paste in a couple minutes.
All you need is a freezer bag and some elbow grease.
- Peel two handfuls of garlic cloves
- Put them in a freezer bag
- Add a couple big pinches of salt to help pull the flavor out
- Gently beat them with a mallet or meat-hammer
- Once broken up, roll over them with a rolling pin
- Push the garlic back together in the baggie
- Roll over it until it is juicy and pasty
Great for garlic bread, too! If the instructions were not real clear… enjoy the video.
Image: source