Now the nights are drawing in (boo), and the mornings have quite a chilly nip to them, it’s time to start thinking of getting the cultivation garden ready for next year.
In particular – garlic.
Now I’ll be honest, I have had a few problems with garlic growing in the past but it doesn’t stop me from having a go every single year.
The thing with garlic is that it’s really easy to plant, harvest and use in cooking. It doesn’t take up too much space to get a decent amount of bulbs and the bulbs tend to really store well.
My problems arise when I do two things:
- Plant the bulbs too close together
- Harvest them too early in the season.
So today I’m not taking any chances. I’m making sure I get the fundamentals right of planting garlic, and to help me to do that I found an excellent video, by the Kitchen Gardeners International, showing me just how to plant garlic bulbs, which I thought I’d share with you too.
If you’ve got a big (wide) pot, or a square foot spare in your garden then do consider planting some garlic this weekend. There are many varieties to choose from, each with individual taste strengths and bulb sizes. I tend to divide one of my raised beds into two, one half for onions and the other for garlic. In a space of about 1.5m (59 inches) by 75cm (29 inches) I can get in between 30 and 40 cloves.
Garlic can be planted between now and end of November or hold off and you can plant them again between March and May however crops tend to do better if they have been planted before winter sets in.
One tip I would share – don’t bother planting garlic bulbs bought from supermarkets. They are usually treated to prevent sprouting. Instead buy a pack from the garden centre which usually come in around £2.99 for three bulbs.
Have fun :-)
Did you notice how small a space was being used in the video?
What’s your favourite variety of garlic? How many cloves do you tend to plant in your space?
