In part 1 of this garlic blog, I introduced you to garlic growing in general. In this second part, I will explain in more detail you will need to actually grow the garlic, including planting, harvesting, curing, and storing garlic. It might seem a little complicated, but it really isn’t. After planting in the fall, all you have to do is wait till spring or early summer when the leaves start to die down; then you dig it up.
Garlic needs good sunlight, ample water (about one inch a week) to keep the soil near the bulb moist but not muddy, and good well-drained soil with a neutral to slightly acidic pH.
Planting:
- Garlic should generally be planted about 3 – 5 weeks before the soil begins to freeze (October or November for most of the US).
- Break the garlic heads apart into cloves and use the largest cloves to plant. It is not necessary to remove the paper-thin wrappings. Handle the cloves gently – remember they are living things.
- If you had a good crop from the previous harvest, use the largest cloves from the crop to augment what you have purchased. The garlic acclimatizes over a few years to your growing conditions.
- Plant in rows, with 9 to 10 inches between rows and 4 to 6 inches between the cloves.
- I use a rod to punch holes in the soil about 2 inches deep. The clove should then be planted in the hole root end down and pointed end up.
- If you are planting more than one variety, be sure to label the garlic rows well. If planting several varieties, it is helpful to draw a map of your plantings. This way, at harvest time, you won’t be confused about which garlic you just harvested.
- Mulch the beds with 2 to 3 inches of chopped hay, chopped leaves, or grass clippings. Do not use bark. Water-in.
- Now you don’t have to do anything until late spring or early summer except for regular waterings.
Harvesting:
- Timing of harvesting is based on the amount of brown dried-out leaves When 50-60% of the leaves are brown, or about 5-6 leaves remain green, it is time to harvest. Remember that different varieties mature at different times, early, mid, and late-season.
- Some people dig gently around the growing garlic bulb (roots grow downward, so you won’t hurt them) to assess its size and maturity. If it is not ready, the bulb is recovered with soil to wait longer before harvesting.
- When it is time to harvest, loosen the bulb and its roots and lift it out of the soil. Do not try to pull it out by the leaves. I often loosen the soil around the bulb then lift it out with my hand.
- Shield the garlic from direct sun while harvesting and curing. Sun will “cook” the garlic and ruin your crop.
Curing:
- Garlic should be “cured” between 2-6 weeks (an average of 4 weeks) after harvesting.
- The ideal temperature for curing is between 56-58 degrees F with a humidity of 45-50% in a shaded and well-ventilated area.
- Do not cure in the sun.
- Leave the bulbs unwashed and let the soil dry on them.
- Hang in small bunches tied together at the neck with the green leaves hanging down or place in a single layer on a perforated surface or screen.
- When all the leaves have dried and turned brown, trim off the leaves and roots with scissors and clean the bulbs with a toothbrush.
Storage:
- Some varieties of garlic can be stored longer than others. Your supplier or the internet can give you that information.
- Keep temperature and humidity in the same range as when curing. This may require moving your harvested crop indoors, depending on the time of year. I keep the garlic in my house during the hottest part of the summer and in my shed or the unheated barn during cool weather.
- Good air circulation is important.
Recommendations for Cooking With Garlic:
- Most recipes call for sautéing onions, then adding the chopped/minced/crushed garlic and just briefly cooking it (1-2 minutes so it won’t burn and become bitter tasting). But if you want your dish to have more of a garlic-flavor, as cooking dilutes the flavor, add a little freshly prepared garlic just before serving.
- To allow the Allicin to develop fully, let the crushed/chopped/minced/sliced garlic rest for about 15 minutes before cooking.
- Don’t be surprised if you find your homegrown garlic to be “stickier” when you chop it in comparison to the store-bought variety. That just means that it is fresher.
- Different garlic varieties have different flavors, be prepared to savor them!
- If you are cooking with a recipe that calls for garlic cloves (like chicken with 40 cloves of garlic) and you want more garlic flavor, consider adding some garlic you have sliced to release the Allicin and increase the garlic flavor.
My wish for you is that you have fun planting a garlic crop, and if you do not do that, you explore trying a variety of garlic from your local farmers’ market. My hunch is that you will not go back to the grocery store variety!
And, as always, happy cooking and happy eating from my house to yours!
