Planting Garlic

@knarly327 and I have been restoring an older house on a small plot of land for the last 2.5 years. Many things we have done have centred around making all the space productive and efficient. When it comes to building gardens and planting, I have focused my strategy on planting perennials. 

Perennials are plants that (for the most part) will survive our Canadian winters. They go dormant when the outside temperature starts to drop in the Fall and they start growing again when the soil warms up in the Spring.

Our outside growing season starts at the end of May and extends until the beginning of October.

I have been purposely planting species of plants that are edible and once they become established will produce food that we can eat.  So far, I have planted a lot of herbs, rhubarb, raspberries, asparagus, and horseradish.

Garlic Is The Last Species Of Plant That I Have Planted This Year

Yes, we've had one snow-fall already.

Within a few days all the snow (which covered everything in a white blanket) melted and we went back to enjoying some "above" freezing outside temperatures during the day.

I've had "planting garlic" on my "to do" list for a month and although I bought the garlic that I wanted to plant, I never made the time to get it into the ground. Then the snow came and I thought that I had missed my garlic planting window. When Mother Nature gifted us with a sunny day (a few days ago) I made time to get this job done.

Ideally, the best time to plant garlic is in the late Autumn so that it will be ready to sprout in the Spring. 

When it sprouts, the first food that the garlic will produce are called scapes. 

A Scape Is The Flower Bud Of A Garlic Clove

Scapes grow from the top of each garlic clove. They normally are harvested in June. If the scapes are harvested at the correct time, it will allow the garlic cloves to multiply, thicken and grow into whole bulbs of garlic which contains multiple cloves. Scapes have the same flavour as garlic and they can be used in any recipe that contains garlic. They look similar to the green part of a green onion with the exception that they aren't hollow in the centre. They make a great addition to soups and as a garnish. I often use them instead of chives because they are similar. I use the scapes when they are fresh but I also dehydrate them to preserve them for use when they aren't in season. 

In the photo below, you can see what a single clove of garlic looks like. The scape will grow from the pointed or tapered end of the clove.

I planted 30 individual garlic cloves from 2 different types of garlic bulbs. 

To plant the cloves, I chose a spot that was well drained and I mixed compost into the soil so that the cloves would have nutrients at their disposal. I planted them about 2 inches deep and about 6 inches apart with the tapered end facing upwards.

 

Then I covered my garlic patch with more soil.

The garlic patch just looks like black earth at the moment but in the Spring I will show you what the scapes look like when they break through the soil and start to grow.

As a side note, not everyone can digest garlic comfortably. Garlic contains something called fructans. Fructans are a type of fructose or sugar. They can ferment in the intestinal tract and cause gas as they are digested by the bacteria in the gut. This gas builds up as the bacteria consume the sugar and this process causes bloating and distention of the gut. This can be very uncomfortable and most people learn fairly quickly if  they can tolerate garlic or not.

Garlic also contains a sulfur-rich compound called Allicin. Medicinally, garlic can lower blood pressure, reduce Low density lipids (or the bad type of cholesterol) and it contains high amounts of antioxidants which ward of infections. Basically, garlic can keep you healthy if you consume it regularly.

I welcome your comments and I invite you to follow me on my journey...you'll learn that I have a bit of a thing for plants, herbs and flower buds. ;)

~ Rebecca Ryan