How to Plant, Grow and Care Garlic

Planning to grow garlic in your garden spaces? Always left the thought because you think growing garlic plant is too difficult? Well, the answer is no and you will know why if you keep reading the article.

Garlic is the easiest crop anyone can grow in their garden areas during autumn. It contains vital nutrients, is rich in anti-inflammatory properties, and has a pungent taste. This article will help you to grow garlic plant easily.

Garlic is used in countless dishes across the globe. Although it has an extended growing season, early winter and autumn would be a perfect time. However, some varieties can be grown in the winter seasons.

Gardeners can grow garlic plants either from the seeds or from the cloves. Growing garlic can be delightful because it is a fungus and pest deterrent.

So, it can be grown as a side crop with other vegetables and herb plants in your garden spaces. So, if you have plans to grow garlic plants, we’ve curated here the complete guide.

Let’s follow the steps and grow the garlic plant with ease but before that check how many types of garlic are there.

It will help you to choose the best garlic type that you can grow according to the climate conditions of your place.

Also Read: Is Garlic a vegetable?

Types of Garlic

Allium sativum

If you are thinking of planting garlic, then do ensure to focus on the varieties of the garlic which can be grown easily in your locality.

There are different varieties of garlic available, which are as follows:

1. Hardneck Garlic

This variety of garlic produces stiff stems that can grow upward through the bulb center. Compared to other garlic varieties, this has a sharp flavor and pungent smell.

The stems are thick, so it is best suited to grow in cold regions. However, the Hardneck garlic’s lifespan is less compared to other varieties.

2. Softneck Garlic

A Softneck variety of garlic can produce a thick stem. This is the most common variety of Softneck garlic available in the marketplaces.

It has a mild flavor and is best suited to grow during the mild winter season. It typically grows excellently in braids format and during the summer season.

3. Elephant Garlic

Elephant garlic is like the giant form of garlic. This is also known as the true form of garlic which we generally use for cooking purposes.

When to Plant Garlic

The ideal time to grow garlic is between September to November. Also, the perfect time for harvesting is in summer, between June and August.

Garlic can perform excellently in dormancy conditions and tolerate colder weather conditions lasting longer than 4-8 weeks.

You can plant the garlic cloves during the fall season. This is the best time to grow because it develops healthy roots before the arrival of the winter.

The bulbs will appear during the early spring season, and the dormancy stage will be broken. It will start producing foliage. It would be ready to harvest during the summer season.

Also Read: Lemon Tree Growth Stages

How to Grow Garlic

Now, that you know when to grow garlic plants, it is time to follow the below guide that will help you do so.

The below steps will be helping you in growing garlic plants from cloves which is the easiest method.

1. To plant the garlic leaves, you need to clear the soil from unwanted weeds. However, dig out the soil and add manure to the soil before planting the garlic clove.

2. Take the garlic cloves, clean them and create a hole in the soil.

3. Make sure the hole must be 15 cm apart, and also make sure to leave the space between the two cloves. Birds usually have a habit of pulling bulbs out of the soil, so, if possible, cover the field with a bird net.

4. If you are growing the garlic plant in extreme winter areas, try to maintain the temperature.

5. Use greenhouses to grow garlic plant.  Alternatively, you can cover the garlic plant with cloches. This will help to protect the roots from damage and frost conditions.

6. However, if you have the clayey texture of the soil, then start planting the garlic cloves in the autumn seasons.

7. This is helpful to prevent the rotting of the bulb during the winter season. There’s a whole article we have dedicated to those who want to know how to prepare the soil for planting vegetables. Check that out.

8. Ensure to maintain the supply of nitrogen and water during the growth stage.

These are the general steps that will help you to grow garlic plants.

Grow Garlic in a Container

We understand that many gardeners don’t have much space to grow garlic plants. If you too have limited space, plant garlic cloves into the container.

Use this step-wise guide to grow garlic plants in containers:

• Use a pot that is at least 15 cm deep. It gives enough space to grow the bulbs.

• Fill the pot with multipurpose compost. Make sure to sow only three cloves into a wider pot and six cloves into the 30 cm wider pot.

• Start feeding with nitrogen and other vital nutrients such as dried chicken manure pellets and natural compost.

• Pour water and let them dry. In the middle, supply nitrogen and water to ensure the proper growth of the plant.

• Keep them under the direct heat of the sun for a few hours a day. This will help to grow the garlic bulbs properly.

• Do not overload the pot with excess water and cloves. It creates a hindrance and doesn’t allow the growth of the bulbs.

Using these simple tips will help you to grow garlic plants in containers or pots if space is your problem. 

Also Read: How to Grow Curry Leaf

How to Care for Garlic

Here are some useful tips that help grow garlic faster and effectively. Make sure to follow these tips to grow garlic plants in your home. 

1. When the ground freezes during the winter season, you should mulch the garlic beds with leaves and straw.

However, it should be removed when the spring season arrives or the frost season has passed.

2. The shoots or stems will emerge from the ground during the spring or summer seasons.

Cut the flower and shoots that protrude out in the spring season because this may decrease the size of the garlic bulb.

3. Garlic is one of the high feeder plants, so you need to add a lot of nitrogen sources, manure, and blood meal such as pelleted fertilizer and pelleted chicken manure. This is beneficial to support the growth of the plant.

4. When you observe the garlic bulbs begin to swell up and respond to the daylight lengthening, make sure to add more fertilizers. Add more fertilizer if you observe the yellowing of the foliage.

5. Remove all the weeds present in the planting site because the garlic plant doesn’t grow well in the presence of the weeds. It requires more nutrition and space to grow properly.

6. Keep watering the plant every three to five days when the plant starts producing the bulbs. During summertime, irrigate the soil properly.

Ensuring these tips will help you to grow garlic plants that are healthy and produce more bulbs in the season.

Do you know lemon grows in 8 stages? Check the whole chart of the growing stages of the lemon tree.

Control Pests and Diseases

Garlic can resist pests and diseases, but some diseases and pests can affect garlic too. Before planting, you can find out the resistant varieties that can resist various diseases.

If you are using common garlic seeds, then here are some of the diseases and pests that can attack the plant and its solution.

1. Basal Rot

Basal Rot is known as Fusarium culmorum. This is a form of fungus which can attack the plant through soil. It shows yellowing of the leaves and may show white growth of the rot around the base of the garlic bulb.

Stop planting the crop in the infected region. Alternatively, try to rotate the garlic crop to remove the chances of infection.

2. Downy Mildew

Downy Mildew (Peronospora destructor) is a form of fungus which can affect the garlic bulb. You will see the white spot on the bulb, which may disturb the plant’s growth.

The fungus outgrowth is observed in a damp environment condition. It may develop when you grow two plants close to each other.

To avoid growth, ensure that the soil is well-drained and grow plants in adequate space. This helps to maintain the flow of air into the plants, preventing the growth of downy mildew.

3. Penicillium Decay (Penicillium hirsutum)

This is also a form of fungal infection resulting from inadequate storage of garlic seeds. It also happens due to bruised cloves planting.

To prevent the growth of the penicillium, do ensure to dry out seeds properly and then store them.

4. White Rot (Sclerotium Cepivorum)

This is a form of fizzy fungal growth present on the bulb and stems of the plants. It can rot the plant and may destroy the plant.

To avoid such issues, remove the infected parts of the plant. Try to avoid planting the cloves that are infected and have the disease.

Alternatively, you can heat the cloves or seeds in hot water to prevent the spreading of the infection.

Keep these pests and diseases away from your garlic plant to have a healthy plant. A lot more has been discussed on how to grow vegetables at home. Do check.

How to Harvest Garlic

Harvesting the garlic is very tricky. Gardeners need to understand the garlic plant growth to evaluate the perfect time for harvesting.

Here are some tricks that help you to harvest garlic properly:

1. The harvesting season can range from June to August. However, if you are planting garlic in the spring season, then harvesting time depends on the plant’s maturity.

2. Focus on the yellowing foliage; the crop is ready for harvesting when you notice such changes.

This would be the perfect time for harvesting. However, do ensure that garlic should not be dried completely.

3. Extract one bulb from the soil and check if the bulb is ready to harvest. It would be great to check a bulb sample by digging it before extracting the entire crop.

This gives you an idea about the entire crop, whether it is ready for harvesting or not.

4. Some gardener digs out the garlic bulb before the signs of yellowing foliage. Some garlic bulbs get mature even before they show yellow foliage.

In that case, they can check the garlic head. It should be appropriately divided into plump cloves. Also, do ensure that the skin covering of the garlic is thicker and papery dry.

5. Do not pull out the garlic bulb if it has a thin covering because it can easily disintegrate.

6. Do not leave the garlic bulbs for longer into the growth because the bulbs will split into two, and the bulb’s skin will also split into two.

It can cause damage and may invite diseases. Hence, in turn, it affects the longevity of the garlic.

7. For harvesting, try to dig out holes carefully. Do not pull the stem with your hand and use a garden fork to pull up the garlic bulb.

Ensure you don’t damage the roots, especially when the bulb is attached to them.

8. Carefully remove the dirt from the bulb and let them dry and remove the roots after drying.

Make sure you should follow all these harvesting tips and you will receive an enormous amount of garlic bulbs.

How to Store Garlic

Till now you learned how to grow garlic plants and harvest them. Storing the garlic is the most crucial step. Here are a few steps that you need to follow to store garlic.

1. Keep garlic in shady places and let it dry for about two weeks. Alternatively, you can hang the bunches of garlic in an upside-down direction and let them dry naturally.

You can also keep them on wire racks to dry and let the air circulate properly.

2. Ensure that bulbs and roots are dried completely. The crown of the roots must be harder, and cloves of the garlic crack out easily.

When the garlic cloves get dried completely, it is ready to store.

3. Once it dried, remove the dirt with a brush, remove the dirty wrappers, cut the tops, and trim out the roots.

4. Now, store the bulbs in a cool and shady place. Do not store them in a moist place. Avoid storing garlic in your refrigerator.

Keeping them in the dark and dry condition allows you to store garlic for months.

The aroma of the garlic enhances as the garlic bulbs. Store them properly in dry areas so that you can use cloves to grow crops next season.

Save the best and large garlic bulbs if you plan to grow crops with garlic cloves.

Grow Garlic Plant in Home

This is how you can grow garlic plants in your home. Garlic is one of the potent vegetables that can be grown easily with any crop.

However, its harvesting is slightly trickier; you need to be careful and follow the steps mentioned above.

So, we hope this guide helps to grow garlic plants easily. Apart from this, gardeners also need to take care of the plant during the growing season.

Once you harvest, store the garlic after drying. It would help to extend its shelf life, and you can use it later for growing more garlic and cooking purposes.

Also, supply adequate manure into the soil to keep it fertile and support the growth of the garlic. Do not overload with water as it can damage the plant.

What are all dishes you use garlic for? Would you grow garlic plants in your home garden? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. 

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