BULBS > GARLIC

IN THIS GUIDE

GARLIC GUIDES

garlic plants with long green leaves growing in rows

A indigen of the onion family , garlic is a popular plant life for amateur gardeners to grow , due to the fact it does n’t need a lot of nurturing .

It ’s somewhat audacious against blighter and it provides a swell ingredient for any number of recipes .

In fact , it is used for cooking pretty much the world over – and has been for centuries now – specially in the ardent Mediterranean countries , such as Southern Spain , France and Italy.1Mahr , S. ( n.d.-a).Garlic , Allium sativum . Wisconsin Horticulture . Retrieved March 15 , 2023 , fromhttps://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/garlic-allium-sativum/

elephant garlic plants labelled and growing in a large garden bed

Overview

PreferredFull Sun

ExposureExposed or shelter

Height0.1 – 0.5 M

green shoots of wild garlic growing from garden soil

Spread0 – 0.1 M

Bloom TimeLate Spring

PreferredMost Soil Types

Rocamboles garlic plants with fan-shaped green leaves

MoistureMoist but well drained

pHAlkaline or indifferent

“ One of the good plants I produce in my vegetable garden is garlic , ” shares Kate Cotterill , Garden Designer .

gloved hand of a gardener planting garlic bulbs in a soil trench

“ I do n’t have a massive vegetable garden , but I farm enough Allium sativum to hold us for an entire year , which is great because I use a lot of it . ”

Garlic clove are best corrupt from a horticulture center or nursery , rather than a supermarket , because :

observe that garlic should n’t be grown in the same position a garlic crop , onion plant orleekshave antecedently been grown – at least , not for another two year .

view of garlic plants being cultivated in a large allotment area

Also , the spot in which you do choose to grow it should be cover with sack to discourage birds from get at the early bulbs .

Garlic Types

“ I develop a variety of elephant Allium sativum that is massive and has huge cloves that we perfectly love in my house , ” share Kate .

As its name implies , this type of garlic indigence spacing out in the soil for its roots to flourish .

Bulbs should n’t be snarf in the first year in rules of order to allow the flora to spread its cum heads wider and multiply the crop .

garlic plants in rows outside growing in very dry soil

“ Wild garlic is a forest plant that want shade to grow well and it ’s get for its leave as well as the lightbulb , ” shares Master Horticulturist Roy Nicol .

“ tending should be taken with countenance the semen to spread as this industrial plant can be invasive . ”

A kind of hardneck garlic which is terrific for cooking with .

Garlic with green shoots grown in a small container

pull in off the flowered spike as before long as they appear ( softneck varieties of garlic do n’t produce a spike heel and you ’ll get more clove tree per bulb as a termination ) .

How To Grow & Plant Garlic

Choose a berth in your garden that is guaranteed to pick up the most sunshine then mix the soil there with a unspoiled compost ( do this several weeks before you start the actual planting to give it time to blend well ) .

The sidereal day before you mean to embed your garlic medulla , break them up .

Next Clarence Shepard Day Jr. plant them up to 4 atomic number 96 deep in the soil , 15 cm aside , with the flat origin plate facing downwards ( and therefore the pointed last upwards ) .

leek rust shown on the leaves of an allium plant

The best meter to embed your garlic bulb is in the fall ( around the third week in November ) .

you’re able to also try growing your garlic indoors in batch around this metre , as gardener Mollie Brown shares in this agile television :

That ’s because the cloves will profit from the initial cold weather ; helping them split and form the right way by the rootage of the year .

Garlic Plant Care

As the garlic develop it will call for H2O if the grease appear too dry .

Otherwise , thanks to the showery UK climate , it should do well on its own .

Do hit weeds though and , at the start of the year , add some nutrients in the variety of sulphate of potash .

Luckily , even if you do n’t have a garden , it ’s still possible to grow this delicious vegetable .

Take 6 bulbs , for instance , and plant them in a deep , 8 - column inch garden grass or container .

As long as the plants are on a regular basis watered they will do just ok sit outside on a windowpane shelf .

Harvesting

It ’s important to get the time of harvest proper .

Having said that , it ’s not too difficult to get wrong since the garlic plant life itself will tell you when it ’s quick to be attended to .

Certainly , do it too belatedly and you ’ll be face with a rotten electric-light bulb when you originate grind up ; too early on and you ’ll have missed the best bit .

It ’s not only the bulbs you could rust from garlic plants ; the leaves can also work in a salad , or use them as a garnish .

Hardneckgarlic indicates it is ready to be airlift when the bottom leaves become a yellow or brownish colour . This is normally from May to July .

Softneckvarieties of ail should be lifted when the leave turn lily-livered and start to fall off ( here you ’re look at from May to August ) .

Once you ’ve decided it is metre to go onward and dig out the bulbs , always step carefully , and with a gardening branching .

“ I love growing garlic because it ’s a harvest that is usually ready in May or June , so I can glean them then pop something else in its station very quickly , making the most out of the place , ” share Kate

After harvest home , dry out them out in an airy shed by put down them on a tray or sheet .

Then store them in a juiceless place with a temperature of between 5 - 10 ° C .

Common Problems

This is a fungus which , if bring in to the soil , attacks the root and bulb beneath the ground .

It is indicated on the airfoil by the leaves droop and turning scandalmongering on the surface .

by and by you ’ll spot a snowy cotton wool - comparable fungus on the light bulb ’s base and the small round black dots .

The only way to avoid this is to plant in soil where there is no existing onion putrefaction .

Be deliberate though – the disease can be contain on tool , kick and other equipment and spreads very easily .

“ Once the onion gabardine rot fungus is present in the grime , crops in the genus Allium household such as onion plant , leeks and ail can not be grow in the same grime for a period of at least seven twelvemonth as there is no treatment available to domesticated gardeners , ” shares Roy .

“ This fungus can be introduced by onion hardening or garlic bulbs not buy from trusted sources , so it ’s , therefore , best to grow onion plant and Allium porrum from ejaculate and annul planting supermarket Allium sativum bulbs . ”

Another fungus which , this time , shows up on the leafage in the form of bright yellow spots .

It ’s not as serious as onion molder and if you settle out the affected plant the other bulbs should survive o.k. ( provided you keep an eye on them ) .

Over - crowding can make leek rusting worse because as well as score the disease easy to spread , it also causes humidity – making it more likely in the first place .

“ Excess nitrogen fertiliser can boost leek rust , so feeding applications should be balance , ” adds Roy .

“ Certain varieties may have underground and can be chosen to head off this disease . ”

References