Can it be done? How big of a pot would you recommend for larger types of garlic? I would really like to try and grow enough to be able to dry and grind it for use through the winter because I use so much if it. I just want to grow a lot of it in the smallest space I can but I can find more space if needed. Would more of the smaller types be bettter than fewer big ones? Would I be better off to build a small raised bed for it? What would everyone recommend for a full flavor garlic that isn't hot? I do love garlic but like onions I can not handle the hot ones. That and my family would shoot me if I grew a hot variety and used in their favorite foods.
When we moved into our place there was a lot of elephant garlic that had naturalized. I put it in my flower beds and keep it scattered everywhere including flower pots. I don't know if it would be as "full flavored" as you would like but it has been a natural for our climate getting huge bulbs and no hot.
I started out with a container garden, so I grew my garlic in a container. The book, The Bountiful Container says you need a minimum soil depth of 6 inches for garlic and onions.. I have mine in a 12"x12"x12" pot, but that was the only pot I had at the time. This will be my fourth year harvesting my garlic. I like it because I can just dump out the pot to harvest. You can also eat the green tops. Just snip somem off just like chives. You get a nice mild garlic flavor.
Thank you, that makes it easier than I thought. I have larger pots I will be using so depth is not an issue. I love Elephant Garlic but wasn't sure if it would grow in a pot, my grandmother grew it in the gorund and she got some the size of baseballs and larger. Thank you both.
I tried garlic with little luck. Does it need a suuny area like onions do? I'll have to move my onions this year as they keep coming up but don't seem to be very big at all.
petunia, sjoerd wrote a whole tutorial, somewhere around here, on growing onions. fish, i grew a few Elephant Garlic from the store last year for the first time. those plants get HUGE compared to other garlic. i've only grown in the ground, but make sure you have a big pot!
I'm wondering how everyone's garlic came out. I saved my own for planting for two years. The first was great, but last year's dried up in the clovesso I bought new from seedsavers. We harvested it last week and its great so far. I will save enough for the planting this October and hope for the best. I like the Italian Purple a lot.
hi gp! i'm readying to dig our garlic up here probably next week. this is the first time in 20 plus years that we had a winter with only a foot of snow over the plants and for such a short time. usually we have 5 plus feet, so it was an experiment brought on by mom nature. looks like all did well...we'll be seeing the bulb results next week. and we save enough to plan also for fall.
Garlic Bunkie, congrats. I hope your garlic is as nice as ours is. We're getting some much needed rain, so maybe the garden will revive.
When do you harvest? I bought some at a local store but it didn't give any information about harvest. Is it like onion where you harvest after the tops have died off?
Garlic Dirtydigits, we plant garlic in early October here in Michigan. It shows up before winter, but it doesn't grow much until early spring. We harvest our's around July when the stems are turning brown about half way . Read a good garlic growing guide on the internet. Some folks here give good advice. The Garlic I planted last October is looking rather well right now, so I suspect we will have a good harvest come July 2011.
Thanks for all the good stuff about garlic and onions. I have some garlic that I planted last year, most of it is doing great. I also have some Egyptian walking onions from a friend. This is their second year and they already have small sets on the ends of the leaves. I was wondering when to harvest my garlic also. I got some garlic bulbs from the store and planted them, but I do not know if they are mild or hot. I love the good strong ones myself. I did put a few snips in my pasta salad for church this week. It is very pretty with them.
Some time mid July to early August the tops will brown up, Pick your garlic then. Let air dry a couple weeks store ina cool dry area out of sun. Replant late in September.
I've grown garlic in 14 X 18" scrap wood boxes that were 9 inches deep. I planted one box the first year and now I do three of them. I don't know if home made garlic powder tastes any better than store bought. So, I use mine fresh until I'm forced to do something with it, then I peel cloves and freeze them. It does loose some flavor over time. There are some cooks who swear you shouldn't freeze garlic. I've been doing it for years. Works for me.
