Garlic is an excellent spice to include in our indoor herb garden collection. To begin, growing garlic has small cost outside of our standard indoor herb growing set up - that might include a number of growing lights if you are without direct sun for a lot of the day. Other than that, growing garlic is as straightforward as taking a garlic blub, removing the individual cloves and planting those. A note of caution however - corner store garlic tends to be sprayed with chemicals to control the ability of the garlic to sprout, which is not what we'd like! It is recommended that you buy bulbs from a specialist. If you cannot find one, then I would recommend starting off with organic garlic.
There is one main thing to remember with garlic. This is a sub soil growing plant - even though it does have leaves above soil, the bulb grows beneath it. That implies the most important thing to keep in mind here is drainage. You do not want your garlic sitting in water, or it will simply rot. That is one of the explanations indoor growing is so well suited - it is easy to get a pot with glorious draining for the garlic to grow in.
Apropos the pot that you will use to grow your garlic, there are a few simple guiding principles to remember. You would like your small garlic cloves to be spaced about 3-4 inches apart when you plant them. The diameter of your pot will decide how many you can plant - however you do need your pot to be 10-12 inches deep. A good place to start could be a 12" diameter pot that's 12" deep. You would then plant your cloves - pointy side up - about 1.5" beneath the surface, and 3-4 inches separate from one another.
Most suggest planting garlic in October/Nov - this is really for those growing outside. You want to plant before it gets too cold but for about a month after planting, you would like to keep the pots in a cool place - about fifty degrees F. Make sure you keep the cloves well watered in this time. At this point its simply a matter of watering constantly - again you do not need the cloves sitting in water and so decaying, but you do not want the soil getting too dry either.
Follow these steps then approx 10 months later you should have full bulbs prepared to crop. A quick note on harvesting: It could be a little challenging to work out when to crop them. If you harvest the garlic bulbs too early, then they're going to be small. There are two ways that you can figure this out - if you dig up a bulb and check the layers, if there are 3 layers on the outside then it is prepared, if there are rather more then it is not. On digging up bulbs - don't pull them out by the plant, instead utilise a shovel and completely dig them up. An alternate way to tell they are prepared is to wait for the leaves to start browning. If you planted in October/November, this will be around Aug/September the following year.
There is one main thing to remember with garlic. This is a sub soil growing plant - even though it does have leaves above soil, the bulb grows beneath it. That implies the most important thing to keep in mind here is drainage. You do not want your garlic sitting in water, or it will simply rot. That is one of the explanations indoor growing is so well suited - it is easy to get a pot with glorious draining for the garlic to grow in.
Apropos the pot that you will use to grow your garlic, there are a few simple guiding principles to remember. You would like your small garlic cloves to be spaced about 3-4 inches apart when you plant them. The diameter of your pot will decide how many you can plant - however you do need your pot to be 10-12 inches deep. A good place to start could be a 12" diameter pot that's 12" deep. You would then plant your cloves - pointy side up - about 1.5" beneath the surface, and 3-4 inches separate from one another.
Most suggest planting garlic in October/Nov - this is really for those growing outside. You want to plant before it gets too cold but for about a month after planting, you would like to keep the pots in a cool place - about fifty degrees F. Make sure you keep the cloves well watered in this time. At this point its simply a matter of watering constantly - again you do not need the cloves sitting in water and so decaying, but you do not want the soil getting too dry either.
Follow these steps then approx 10 months later you should have full bulbs prepared to crop. A quick note on harvesting: It could be a little challenging to work out when to crop them. If you harvest the garlic bulbs too early, then they're going to be small. There are two ways that you can figure this out - if you dig up a bulb and check the layers, if there are 3 layers on the outside then it is prepared, if there are rather more then it is not. On digging up bulbs - don't pull them out by the plant, instead utilise a shovel and completely dig them up. An alternate way to tell they are prepared is to wait for the leaves to start browning. If you planted in October/November, this will be around Aug/September the following year.
About the Author:
Joseph Robertson has always loved the convenience and freshness of having an indoor herb garden. On his website, you will find helpful articles on all you need to know about developing your own indoor herb garden.
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