Tag Archives: garlic

October 16, 2018 · 2:10 pm

How Does My Garlic Grow? Time to Harvest

In December 0f 2017 I started four cloves of garlic in a pot on my windowsill. Now, ten months later, I think I will harvest my crop of three sprigs. I did pull the fourth one a couple of months ago to see where it had gotten as far as the number of cloves. I was a little disappointed to see that it looked more like a green onion than a garlic. So, I left the final three to grow for another few months.

Garlic plant before harvest

 

Today, I decided it was time to pull it all up. I read a number of articles last year, when I started this project, that stated it would take about 9 months for cloves to form. The greens did grow quickly, but the cloves? Well, not so much. After a little bit of careful pulling I found the plant to be quite root bound.

Root Bound Garlic

I suppose this isn’t too surprising because of how fast they grew and the size of the pot. Add to the fact that they grew much too close to one another it all resulted in what looks like green onions.

Garlic peeled to reveal root

After peeling back the outer layers I found a beautiful white core and a strong aroma of garlic. Although these beauties were not segmented into cloves, I’m still very happy. If the smell is any indicator of the flavor then these will be a successful first attempt at growing garlic.

For next time? The cloves will be started in a pot, but they will mature in the ground. Garlic seems to need the room that my pot could not provide.

Do you grow garlic? Share your tips for success in the comments.

Until next time!

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June 26, 2018 · 1:12 am

How Does My Garlic Grow? June Update

I am most excited that not only is my garlic still alive, but it is doing really well too. Yeah me! I took these photos today. Aren’t these guys looking great?

If you browse back to my post from 3-16-16 and compare the photos you can see that today the garlic has grown quite a bit. The photo on the right also shows a bulb forming. I moved the pot outside earlier in the season, and it really took off. Fresh air and sunshine does a soul (and garlic) good.

It will be a couple of months before full bulbs form. After reading up on the subject it takes about 9 months from sprout to bulb. I planted the sprouting bulbs back in December so there is still a month or two to go before I can pull them up. Interestingly, the one on the right that is set apart from the others is a bit bigger. It must have more room to stretch. I’ll have to keep that in mind for next year’s crop.

Have you ever tried to grow garlic? I’d love to hear about your successes and challenges.  Until next time.

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May 3, 2018 · 4:05 pm

How Does My Garlic Grow?

Several months ago I posted that I was growing some garlic for the first time. Believe it or not, it’s still alive. I am the first to admit my brown thumb when it comes to plants that are needy. Thankfully garlic is not one of those kinds of plants. I have been told that the bulbs take awhile to grow, so I am not ready to yank one out to see how it is growing. With my luck all four of them would come out and I’d have to start over. Until I pull them out, here are a few photos of how fast it grew.

My first post was back in December and the photo there shows the plants just peaking out from under the dirt (taken December 2). Within a week the sprouts were already an inch tall, and by the 13th they grew to 4 or 5 inches.

December 13, 2017

 

January 8, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 15, 2018

It doesn’t look much different today than from this photo from back in March. The leaves still look scraggly, and deformed but I am hoping the goodness below the soil is beautiful.

I’ll keep you updated on my success or failure growing my first batch of garlic.

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December 12, 2017 · 7:00 am

Growing Garlic

I love garlic. I eat it in nearly every dish I make (except cookies), and I’m sure I put too much in sometimes. My sister told me about how she likes to grow her own garlic and she found a great batch from Germany. I don’t remember the exact strain, but she gave me a couple of bulbs so I could grow some too. She lives in the Midwest and I live in the Rocky Mountain region. When I asked how to grow it she said to take one clove, pointy side up, and stick in the ground in the fall and it will come up in the spring. Scratching my head I smiled. I wasn’t sure how that would translate to my climate, but we were interrupted at that moment and I didn’t follow up.  Then, once home, I ate the garlic and never thought again to try to grow it.

Last month, I read an article on one of my favorite blogs, Lovely Greens, about how to grow garlic. She reiterated just what my sister said. Plant it in fall and it grows in spring. Again, this is coming from someone in a climate very different from my own (Isle of Mann to be exact). So, this is the second time in just a few months that I have been told about growing garlic. Maybe I should make an attempt at it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have garlic left from my sister’s batch, but I did just get some from the grocery store. I figure that if I manage to grow that then I will ask for more of the German variety (it is delicious by the way). Doing my usual “guess and by golly” method of doing things, I found a little pot  and stuck four cloves in the dirt and dumped water on it.

It’s growing!!

I am pleasantly surprised that it is actually growing. The larger sprout had already started while it was attached to the bulb so that little guy had a head start. The others are also showing signs of life. If all goes well I should have four nice bulbs of garlic late in the Spring or early Summer.

I will keep you posted on the progress of my planting experiment. Until then, I think I need to eat what’s left of the bulb these came from. Roasted sounds lovely.

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