Garlic Growing Guide: Plus Tips for growing garlic in HOT CLIMATES

garlic is one of the simplest crops to grow and in today's video i'm going to teach you how i'm also going to share my favorite recipe for homegrown garlic but if we haven't met before my name is angela from growing in the garden and i love to share garden inspiration and helpful tips so you can be successful in your own garden the trickiest part to growing garlic is making sure that you're choosing the correct variety for your climate once you've done that garlic practically grows itself so let's talk about the different types of garlic and where it's best to grow each type there are two main types of garlic hard neck varieties and soft neck varieties hard neck varieties are more cold hardy and they are an excellent choice for cold climates this type of garlic produces an edible stem or scape the scape is edible and delicious it's important to remove that flowering stem so that all the energy can go back to that bulb hardneck varieties often have more intense flavor than soft neck varieties soft neck varieties are the best type to grow if you live in a more mild or warm climate they don't need that cold weather to form bulbs soft neck varieties of garlic store well and they are the ones that you see braided into those beautiful garlic braids once you know which types you'd like to grow then it's important to order your garlic early it's best not to grow grocery store garlic it's best to get garlic from a grower a local grower is even better around may start the search for a grower that's growing the type that you want to grow check the ship date for that grower and make sure that they will ship at the right time that you want to plant here in the low desert i've had the most success ordering garlic from forever young farm they sell soft neck varieties well suited to growing here in the low desert of arizona and they ship at the right time for us to plant one of the best things about growing your own garlic is that you're able to quickly become self-sufficient in garlic save your favorite cloves to plant the next year and you won't need to buy seed garlic again my next tip is to prepare your garlic before you plant so if you live in a cold climate and you're planting hard net garlic you don't need to do anything that garlic is already going to get the cold that it needs but if you live in a warm climate and you would like to grow hardneck varieties then you are going to trick mother nature into thinking that garlic got the cold it needed we call that vernalization vernalization is the exposure of plants to low temperatures to trigger flower and bulb production an easy way to vernalize garlic is to put it in a paper sack and put it in the fridge for at least six weeks soft neck varieties also benefit from vernalization if you live in a warm climate but it isn't as necessary as with hardnick but once you get your garlic go ahead and pop that garlic in the fridge my next tip is to plant garlic at the right time garlic does best if you can plant it in the fall in cold climates plant garlic about a month before the ground freezes you want to get that garlic in and get it sprouted before the cold temperatures arrive so that it doesn't rot in the ground the best time to plant garlic here in the mild climate of the low desert of arizona is in october anytime during that month is a great time to get your garlic in the ground my next tip is all about choosing the correct location for planting garlic garlic needs plenty of sunlight to grow well remember it's often growing during the cooler temperatures look for an area that receives at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight the other thing to remember about garlic is that it likes loose well-draining soil you don't want that garlic to sit in dense heavy soil because it will rot prepare your soil before planting by loosening the soil to a depth of at least six inches it's also best to add in and amend the area with compost and a balanced organic fertilizer before you plant garlic grows really well in raised beds and containers because the soil in those beds are typically really well draining if you're gonna grow garlic in a container look for a container that is at least six inches deep one thing i love about garlic is it is an excellent companion plant garlic helps repel pests and it's easy to tuck in different areas around your garden i also love growing garlic in my fruit tree well it helps repel some of those pests that are attracted to fruit trees my next tip is all about planting garlic before you plant your garlic break apart the cloves and soak them in a seaweed or fish emulsion solution with a little bit of baking soda added in the baking soda has antibacterial benefits and the fertilizer stimulates growth soak the cloves for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours before planting when you plant garlic you're going to plant with the root side the flat side pointing down the tip of the garlic the pointy end is going to be pointed up plant your garlic cloves two or three inches deep and allow four to six inches between those garlic cloves for square foot gardening you can plant between four and nine garlics per square foot once your garlic is planted it's important to mulch the planting area well if you live in a cold climate apply a four to six inch layer of straw to insulate that garlic garlic is pretty simple to care for as it grows let's talk first about watering you want to water in your garlic when you first plant it and water it well as it begins to grow if you live in a cool climate then you want to cut back on watering during the coldest months of the year you only want to water garlic while it's actively growing it's best to water garlic deeply less often garlic likes to dry out a little bit between watering as it gets closer to harvest time and those leaves begin to die back that's when you're going to cut back completely on watering the other important thing to remember about caring for garlic is to feed garlic garlic is a heavy feeder and likes regular applications of fertilizer i like to feed my garlic about once a month with a liquid organic fertilizer if you're growing hard neck varieties of garlic it's important to cut off that garlic scape when it appears to encourage the energy to go back to bulb production and not flower production so how do you know when garlic is ready to harvest garlic is ready to harvest when several of those lower leaves begin to die back garlic is ready to harvest when the cloves are plump and firm if you're not sure if it's ready dig down and harvest one to see if it's ready in the low desert of arizona garlic is often ready to harvest during the month of may once you've harvested your garlic don't rinse off the mud or trim the roots if that garlic gets wet it won't store as long so now let's talk about curing your harvested garlic the ideal temperature for curing garlic is around 75 to 80 degrees so i take my garlic inside i lay it out on a rack in a single layer if possible and then add a fan to provide ventilation if your outdoor temperatures are around 70 or 80 degrees find a shady spot that's well ventilated outside and let your garlic cure outside those garlic stems are going to wither as that energy goes into the bulb the papery skins are going to tighten around those bulbs once that begins to happen you can trim the stems to about an inch and then trim off the roots of the garlic soft neck varieties can also be braided and hung up to cure once you've cured your garlic store it in a dry shady location i have a hall closet that i hang up my garlic and onions in these mesh bags if you have a root cellar or something like that even better check your garlic cloves regularly in storage if they begin to soften you need to use those right away soft neck varieties typically will store longer than hard neck varieties so if you've grown both eat up your hard neck varieties first save your largest cloves for planting out next year our favorite way to prepare home-grown garlic is to roast it i love roasting big trays of garlic the flavor of roasted garlic is so rich and good it adds delicious flavor to just about everything [Music] i store the roasted garlic in the freezer and then i can take out two or three or five or ten whenever i need it garlic is one of those crops that i think every gardener should grow in their garden find a spot for garlic in yours today thank you so much for watching [Music] you

Channel: Growing In The Garden

Views: 74,913

Keywords: how to grow garlic, growing garlic, how to plant garlic, how to grow garlic at home, garlic, growing garlic in containers, how to grow garlic from cloves, how to grow garlic in a container, planting garlic, growing garlic at home, tips for growing garlic in warm climates, growing garlic from cloves, how to grow garlic in warm climates, grow garlic, how to plant garlic at home, how to grow garlic from seed, how to plant garlic in containers, growing garlic indoors

Id: 4zzh8yPiPGk

Length: 8min 58sec (538 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 20 2021