How to Grow Garlic

If you’re looking to spice up your sauce, saute mushrooms, or keep vampires at bay, nothing is better than fresh homegrown garlic.

Step 1: Choose your garlic Choose the type of garlic you’d like to grow. There are two garlic categories, softnecks and hardnecks.
Step 2: Prepare the bed Prepare your bed by loosening the soil and adding fertilizer such as compost.
Step 3: Plant the cloves Plant as close to the autumnal equinox as possible and plant the cloves, root side down, in 2-inch-deep holes, 8 inches apart from each other.
TIP: To protect your crop from fungal diseases and pest infestations, soak each clove in water mixed with 1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon liquid seaweed per gallon.
Step 4: Mulch Mulch around emerging green shoots them from frost. Keep the soil moist – but not wet – and weed-free.
Step 5: Harvest Harvest your garlic when most of the lower leaves have turned brown. Gently dig around the bulb and remove it from the soil.
TIP: Don’t wait for all the leaves to be brown – the bulbs will split.
Step 6: Store the garlic Store your garlic in a moderately humid area between 50 and 65 degrees. Once you’re ready to dig in, peel back the skin, and enjoy the pungent perfection.
FACT: The ingredient in garlic that is responsible for its pungent smell as well as its antibacterial and potential healing properties is called allicin.