Sunday, September 20, 2009

Grow your own Garlic !

Click on the pictures to see them in real size.

UPDATE
I found THIS great website which has everything you need to know about gardening and growing your own plants and vegetables / legumes. Do check it out !


After watching a segment of a TV show one morning, I decided to plant my own garlic.
Yes, you CAN do that in your own home and have fresh garlic at all times.
My picture shows a few garlic leaves just barely growing bright green, fresh out of the soil, next to my basil.
After documenting the matter a little further I found out that after a while the garlic will no longer need to be watered, which made me rethink the strategy.
So I removed the bulbs and replanted them in different pots. Do you want to plant your garlic too?

Here's what you need to do:
- grab a head of garlic and pull a few cloves out
- remove the dry skins of the garlic cloves and plant them by pushing them into the ground, at least 2 inches deep
- water regularly and make sure you keep a constant level of soil moisture
- you will notice that in less than a week they will burst out of the soil
- if you see florets forming, you can cut them and use as you would regular garlic so the energy of the plant is focused solely on the head or root
- keep watering and when you see it starts to dry out, stop watering
- 2 to 3 weeks after the point when it began to dry out, pull the now formed head of garlic and use or store in the refrigerator
- there you go...you have fresh garlic !

Another plant I have growing in my pots is basil, from a plant I got at the store.
It's good to have on hand and it smells divine!
I recommend it !

Then lastly I am growing mint which is wonderful for garnishing, although sometimes if you don't have mint in your dish it is more or less recommended to garnish with it.
Good for making tea, granita, you name it !

4 comments:

  1. I am pondering starting an herb garden. I go through LOTS of garlic, may consider this too...Thanks for sharing

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  2. You are very welcome and good luck with the garden, as I know it will be a lot of work.

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  3. Catalina, you have a great looking garden...thanks

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  4. Oh, you like my pots ?
    I wish I had a patch of land just for that, but on the other hand growing stuff in plants rather than in outside on your land is more convenient as you can easily move everything indoors once the winter comes.

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