Growing Garlic
You love the Spuds so try the Garlic!
Garlic Growing in Containers
Garlic bulbs love to be container grown. They provide a delicious, healthy crop with very little effort. Once planted in well drained humus rich compost with a bit of sand mixed in and some organic fertiliser or plant food added they pretty much look after themselves. Of course watering, as with most container-growing will be needed.
Our Spring planted garlic varieties such as Elephant Garlic produce, as the name suggests, jumbo sized bulbs. They have a sweet and mild flavour and are ready to harvest July to August. (Absolutely delicious roasted)!
Pink Garlic has a sweet and subtle flavour. – A real connoisseur’s variety. Once the wafer like outer skin of the garlic bulbs is removed a pretty pink clove is revealed giving this special garlic its name.
The stalks are rigid so the garlic is wrapped in bunches and not strings as in the case of other garlic.
Garlic Solent Wight is wonderfully aromatic, strong flavoured, large- cloved garlic with a kick. Planted in early spring the bulbs can be ready to lift in July.
Planting Garlic
Garlic may be planted from Spring onwards in warmer counties, although some still say the real secret to growing garlic is to plant it in mid October in well drained soil. (Sand may be added to aid drainage).
Separate the cloves of a garlic bulb. These are then planted ‘flat end down’ (pointy end up) at about 2.5cm (an inch in ‘old money’) below the surface of the compost. Plant about 10 cm (4inches) apart in containers.
For best results feed the garlic with a good organic general fertiliser such as Westland Organic Potato & Vegetable Fertliser once or twice a month.
The foliage will begin to show in April (not the prettiest of plants but one of the tastiest).
Keep the container watered and weeded then await the delicious harvest. EASY!
Garlic is ready for harvesting when most of the foliage is a yellowy – brown.
Timing the harvesting takes just a little care, too soon and the bulbs will too small, but left too long and the bulbs will split giving a poor tasting, difficult to harvest bulb.
To harvest the Garlic carefully ease the bulbs out of the compost using a trowel. Remember that garlic bruises easily, so gently does it.
The absolutely best garlic is fresh from the ground (known as wet garlic). This garlic is sweeter, less pungent and far more digestible than dried garlic. So reward yourself for your efforts garlic growing by using some freshly harvested cloves at once.
Even so, most of the crop will be stored for future use. To do this, simply wash and dry for a couple of days in sun before storing in a cool and dry place. Bulbs should remain in good condition for four months plus.
Which planter?
The best of our planters for growing garlic successfully would be the smaller two included in our excellent Haxnicks Vegetable Planters pack of 3, shown below.
