How to Grow Garlic

A family recipe from Katie Roling.

Getting ready: 0 min · Cooking: 0 min · Feeds: 1

Ingredients

Directions

1. Growing garlic: Garlic plants have leaf stalks 8 inches to 2 ft tall and produce seeds and bulblets.
2. Although you can plant the seeds or bulblets it is better to plant the individual cloves.
3. Garlic needs cool temperatures when the leaves first develop followed by warm temperatures and long days as the bulbs form.
4. Plant in fall, set in ground a few weeks before first frost. Cover with 3-4 inches of old straw or hay as garlic needs protection from severe cold.
5. Soil should be fertile, well drained and finely tilled, or sandy soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.8 is fine.
6. Once you have planted, water thoroughly.
7. Keep the bed free of weeds and the soil moist but do not allow it to become soggy. You can interplant the cloves with other crops if room is needed.
8. Set cloves in ground 1-2 inches deep, pointed end up, 4-6 inches apart.
9. Five to nine plants per garlic eater should feed your family.
10. Growing garlic as a perennial: #1 When plants are about 2 feet tall pinch off the flower buds.
11. #2 In August pull the largest plants out of the ground by hand for eating or dig them out with trowel, leaving some, then scratch the soil surface lightly and pull all weeds.
12. #3 In October add a 3-4 inch layer of mulch. I removed some of this in the spring so they can sprout through.
13. #4 In the spring, if your soil needs fertilization, spread 1 inch well rotted manure over the top of the bed. Do not cultivate the soil.
14. #5 Repeat steps 1-4.
15. Harvesting garlic: For large garlic you should remove the flower heads when they first appear.
16. When the tops begin to droop and turn yellow knock them down and do not water.
17. After a few days when the stems feel soft dig the bulbs out and leave them outside in a cool dry spot for several days more.
18. When the tops are dry and the skins are papery, cut off the leaf stalks and the roots (do not cut off the leaf stalks if you want to braid them).
19. Finally hang the bulbs in a cool airy place inside. Garlic can be stored for as long as a year.
20. Old time remedies: Garlic tea - 1/2 cup boiling water and several chopped up cloves, let steep for 6-8 hrs. Gargle for sore throat or swallow to ease flu symptoms.
21. Garlic oil - mix a sm. amount of olive oil with slice of garlic, heat briefly and strain. Use a few drops of warm oil to soothe an earache.
22. Garlic cough syrup - add 1 pound garlic to 1 quart of boiling water and let steep for 12 hrs. Add sugar or honey and vinegar boiled with caraway and fennel seeds until the mixture reaches the consistency of syrup.