Love Garlic? Here's How to Grow Your Own

Photographs by Beth Gellman

Right now is the perfect time to plant my favorite crop: garlic. In fact, I just put in a bunch of it this past week. It’s amazingly easy and low-care. You want to plant it in the fall when other bulbs are going into the ground, such as tulips and daffodils. This way, it has all winter and early spring to develop roots and start doing its thing before the St. Louis' blowtorch of a summer descends on us.

Hardneck garlic variety. You can tell by the stiff neck that’s been trimmed back to the bulb. I’ve heard chefs prefer this over the Softneck because the cloves are easier to get out of skin.

Gosh, the incredible smell of garlic being sautéed with some olive oil. I love it in everything. And nothing beats my immense satisfaction that knowing I am using my own organic garlic grown in my back yard. Plus there are tons of different varieties out there, and a wide variety of growers to choose from. Why settle for the store-bought garlic, which is most likely grown in China (the biggest producer in the world)? You can buy bulbs at your local farmers market, or online (I recommend hoodrivergarlic.com, filareefarm.com, and 2sistersgarlic.com). Then next year, guess what? You’ve grown your own supply for planting! Just keep bulbs from your crop, and plant that fall.

I became a fan of growing garlic when I attended a garlic workshop at Schlafly Bottlewoks taught by Jack Petrovic, the resident gardener there. Jack has a plethora of knowledge in growing food, and is a hardcore grower of garlic. It was there that I tasted my first fermented black garlic. What a rarity.

A variety I bought this year at Jack’s Garlic Workshop. It’s suppose to be extremely reliable, and is one that he personally grows at his home every year and shares with friends and family.

One of the varieties Jack offered at his Garlic workshop last year.

Black garlic

OK, so how do you grow the darn stuff? I’m going to give you the basics. You can certainly go beyond this to get maximum potential, but it’s more costly and time-consuming. I like to grow “no- brainer” food plants in my garden, and garlic fits the bill.

Buy some garlic bulbs that will meet your needs. Use one of the growers I suggest, and do a little research. Or buy some from a farmer at your local farmer’s market. Also ask around with family and friends. Lots of people are growing garlic now, and may have some extra bulbs. Start small. Remember one bulb can give you up to 15 plants!

You are off to a great start if you already have a bed you’ve been growing food in, and it’s prepped. Meaning it’s been turned over at some point in time, had amendments added over the years and is clean of weeds. If you want, add an additional bit of bone meal and compost.

Make furrows about 3 inches deep. Take the cloves out of the bulb, just as you would do with cooking, and plant them about 4” deep. Make sure the pointy side is up. I like to then push the corm down another inch into the furrow. Space them about 6 inches apart.

Water them in, and then add some mulch, leaf compost or straw over the bed. Sometimes I just pile on some leaves that are all over my yard come November.

You’ll start to see the shoots coming up in the spring when the ground warms up. Then, around early May, you’ll have something sprout out on the plant, called Scapes. You want to pull those off. Otherwise, the plant will flower...and you don’t want that! Chefs like to use Scapes in their cooking, and so can you. I’ve eaten them raw. The are actually quite beautiful, as they dance their way into many shapes.
By mid-to-late Jun, the plant will start turning brown. Watch for this. And stop watering! Once the plant is pretty darn brown, that is the time to dig up the bulbs. Hurray! You should have a nice size crop of bulbs to cook with and save for next year.

Garlic scape

I’ve given you the condensed version of growing garlic. Just like everything out there in the world, it can get complex and be intimidating. Don’t stress out. As I always say, start small, just have fun, and see what happens.

Beth Gellman is an EarthDance Farm Alumn and a landscape designer specializing in edible food gardens and community gardens. To contact The Garden Coach, please email Beth at gellmandesign@yahoo.com.