Garlic

Who doesn't love garlic? Add some melted butter and you can make just about anything taste amazing. What's even better - it's easy to grow!

Garlic (Steve Buissinne) Pixabay

Cousin to onions, shallots, chives, and leeks, garlic is a member of the Allium family. So why talk about garlic in the middle of August? Most of us gardeners are currently dealing with an over abundance of tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers, but fall will be here before you know it.

Rather than let your valuable garden real estate go fallow, you can chop up plant material, as plants end their productive cycle, and use this valuable resource to prepare your winter crop beds. Lay the material on top or dig it in a few inches. By the time October rolls around, the worms will have created the perfect growing medium for your garlic.

How to grow garlic

Garlic can be grown in containers, shade gardens, on balconies or windowsills, or in traditional garden rows. As a bulb, it is a resilient plant that can fit into practically any landscape. While you can certainly grow new plants from a garlic purchased at the grocery store, you are better off buying starts from a reputable grower. Grocery store garlic is safe to eat, but it may harbor diseases that can harm future crops for many years.

​Garlic comes in two basic forms: hardneck and softneck. The softneck variety stores better, but the hardneck variety produces bigger cloves that are easier to peel. When you are ready to plant, simply separate the cloves from a garlic and plant them approximately 6" apart and 1" deep, with the root end down and the pointy end up. That's it!

Garlic lore

Garlic has been cited as a cure-all and demon-repellant, among other questionable attributes, but science has shown that garlic really does repel aphids, cabbageworms, codling moths, Mexican bean beetles, peach borers, and even slugs and snails. In my book, that makes garlic worthwhile simply as a natural pest and disease inhibitor. Of course, I love to eat garlic, so I would plant it anyway!

Harvesting garlic

Unlike onions, whose leaves are a tube, garlic leaves are flat. When the leaves start to turn yellow and fall over, gently remove them from the ground, dust off the dirt, and put them in a shady spot for a couple of weeks. If you feel inspired, you can then try braiding your garlic crop, but I have found that it's a lot harder than it looks!

Be sure to save your very best garlic for planting in the following fall. Over time, your garlic crop will be become better acclimated to your microclimate and produce even better harvests!

Freshly harvested and braided garlic