Soil preparation
Garlic will tolerate some shade but prefers full sun. While one can have cloves sprout in gravel pits, garlic responds best in well-drained, rich, loamy soil which has lots of organic matter. Raised beds are ideal, except in very dry areas.
Planting
You plant the cloves, the sections of the bulb; each clove will produce a new bulb. The largest cloves generally yield the biggest bulbs.
To get the cloves off to a strong start and protect them from fungal diseases, soak them in a jar of water containing one tablespoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of liquid seaweed for a few hours before planting. Plant garlic in the evening.
Spacing
Place cloves in a hole or furrow with the fl at or root end down and pointed end up, with each tip two inches beneath the soil.
Set the cloves about six to eight inches apart. Top the soil with 6 inches of mulch, such as straw or dried grass clippings mixed with leaves. You’ll see shoots start growing right through the mulch in four to eight weeks, depending on the weather and the variety you have planted.
They stop growing during the cold season, then start again when it is sunny. Leave the mulch in place into spring; it conserves moisture and suppresses weeds (garlic competes poorly with weeds).
Watering Garlic
Garlic needs about an inch of water each week during the sunny growth. If you have to augment rainfall with the garden hose, stop watering by June 1 or when the leaves begin to yellow to let the bulbs firm up.
Scape sacrifice
By mid-June, your garlic will begin sprouting flowery tops that curl as they mature and ultimately straighten out into long spiky tendrils. These savoury stalks, known as scapes, should be removed to encourage larger, more efficient bulb growth.
However, before adding severed scapes to the compost pile, try incorporating their mild garlic flavour into a delicious scape pesto, scape dip, or scape soup.
Fertilising
Start foliar-feeding your garlic every two weeks as soon as leaf growth begins in the sunny period (typically in March) and continue until around May 15, at which point the bulbs begin to form.
