Grow Your Own Garlic!

It's been a wild week at my house! My husband is out of town on a mission trip and I have three house guests this week. Plus there's school, and dance, and church, and meals, and work, and a million other things to do. That's my excuse for this short post! Read on to find out how you can grow your own garlic inside or outside even if you've never grown anything before.

My husband and I have been fiddlin' around with organic square foot gardening for the past two years. The first year just getting the beds built and good dirt in them was a huge accomplishment. We did get some things planted and had a pretty good harvest. This past summer we did a little better. We grew a couple kinds of lettuce, kale, spinach, okra, various peppers, beans, squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, and tomatoes.

I even planted some celery by using the end you cut off  when you buy it in the grocery store and soaking it in water for a couple of days until it starts to sprout and then planting it. It was an experiment to see if it really worked, and by-cracky, it DID!

This picture shows the celery that we grew from the 'stump' end. It had a lot more flavor than what we normally buy. Maybe it was all that rich, organic soil we bought???

Garlic bulb separated.

I'm doing another experiment right now that is similar. Did you know you can grow your own garlic? It's true! All you have to do is take a bulb of garlic and separate all the cloves. You put them in a jar of water for a couple of days until they start to sprout a little bit and then plant them. You can grow them inside or out in the garden. I'm excited about having something growing in my garden over the winter, so that's what I did.

Garlic soaking.

I planted three squares with nine cloves each. Make sure you plant them with the root side going down and the sprout towards the top. They need to be about two inches deep. I planted these two weeks ago and they are starting to come up.

We use a lot of fresh garlic in our cooking and I love the idea of growing it myself. I purchased my bulbs at our local farmer's market to make sure I am starting with a good, organic variety that will grow well in my location. I was afraid what I bought at the grocery store might not grow well here. If you have access to locally grown, I would recommend that option.

Sometimes you have garlic that starts to sprout. If that happens, it won't be good to eat, so why not try planting it in a flower pot inside the house and see if you can get it to grow!

Buying from the farmer's market also allowed me to speak to the farmer who grew it, and he was very helpful to tell me how to know when it is time to harvest. He also informed me that it was best to start with the biggest bulbs to have the most success.

Now is the perfect time to plant garlic, so if you get a chance to go to your local farmer's market this weekend, pick up a few bulbs and plant them.