Grow Great Garlic at Home
by Green Hills Farm
GROW
Garlic is easy to grow at home. We grow ours in raised beds with excellent drainage and well-prepared, garlic friendly soil. However, a pot on your terrace or a sunny corner of your veggie patch can do just as well.
When to plant
We plant in late April, about 4-6 weeks before heavy frosts arrive in our area. Early autumn planting gives our garlic time to get well established before winter.
Top tip: Watch the weather carefully and aim to plant a week or a few days before rain is expected. When the rain does arrive, it’ll help your freshly planted garlic settle in.
Choosing bulbs
Preparing the soil
Planting
Protecting and feeding
How to harvest and dry garlic
HARVEST
Garlic is simple to cure or dry for long-term storage. In most climates, curing garlic takes about a month. Once it’s dried, garlic will last for six months or more if stored correctly.
Harvesting
Garlic is harvest-ready in around eight months. Around November, outer leaves start to die away. When three or four green leaves remain, it’s time to harvest.
Gently shift a bit of surface soil and check for classic doughnut-shaped bulbs with clearly visible cloves. Watch the weather and aim to harvest after several dry days. If your bulbs resist being pulled up by the stem, lift them with a garden fork.
Top Tip: If you’re curing (drying) your crop, prepare the storage space before you harvest. Ideally, it will be well ventilated with indirect sunlight. Wooden crates and shelving racks make great drying surfaces.
Drying
Trimming & Dusting
How to store garlic successfully
STORE
Dry garlic will last through winter into spring if you treat it right. Here’s how to do that.
Choose the right containers
Use sturdy paper bags or woven baskets like those you’d use to store potatoes and onions.
Braided garlic or loose cloves look classy and live happily in a wire mesh basket or an open bowl on your kitchen bench.
Keep it cool
Things to avoid
Fridges and freezers