Hope you are enjoying the beautiful Spring weather 🙂Â
We’re deep in planting time in Southern Ontario right now. The black flies are humming and the garlic bulbs we planted last fall are already about 8 inches tall. They’ll be ready to harvest by mid to late July.
Growing Garlic
If you didn’t have time to plant garlic cloves in the Fall you can still plant then now and they will be ready to harvest in Autumn. When planted in Spring the garlic bulbs and cloves are always smaller at harvest.
Separate the cloves from the bulb and plant two inches deep in soil that’s been enriched with compost. Plant the cloves at least six inches apart. You can line your rows of veggies with garlic plants to help keep insects away.
When the garlic scape is long but the flower is till very closed, pull the scape straight up from the centre of the garlic, or cut it very close to the bottom with a sharp knife. This will cause the single garlic clove to burst into a bud with several cloves. You can use the scapes in many ways. Chop small, dehydrate, then grind into powder (in coffee or spice grinder). Use as onion or garlic powder. Use in pesto to replace, or in addition to garlic cloves. Use in soups and stews. Sprinkle on pizza. If you take the scapes when they are very tender you can stir fry them quickly, with a bit of olive oil and salt.
RECIPE: Garlic Scape and Basil Pesto
Harvest garlic when about three-quarters of the leaves have turned brown. Don’t wait too long or the cloves will start to regrow. Turn up with a digging fork and gently remove the whole bulb. Leave in the sun to dry for one or two days, then braid the stems together or cut the stem two inches above the bulb. Store in a cool dry place all winter.
To increase your store of garlic, when you dig them, divide and replant in the Fall for the biggest, best bulbs next July. Of course if you did plant garlic last Fall, you will know to replant some of those cloves again this Fall.
How do you tell the difference between onions and garlic, in the garden?
Here’s the quickest way. See this onion at left? I’ve cut the leaf off so you can see an Onion leaf forms a straw, a hollow tube. The leaves of onions are round like a tube.
Garlic forms a flat leaf, that’s the difference!
Why are some garlics in a clump and others are by themselves?
That’s easy! The ones that are single, like this one were planted last Fall. This beautiful large garlic bulb will be ready to harvest in about two months.
This clump of garlic got missed last summer! If you don’t harvest the garlic bulb after the leaves turn about three-quarters brown, you might miss them! The leaves will wither up and you won’t be able to see where that garlic bulb was. Next year you’ll get this – a clump of garlic! Each garlic clove is growing into a whole bulb on its own! If this happens, quickly dig them up and plant them each on their own so they have lots of room to grow.
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