Allium, Common Garlic, Cultivated Garlic

On Mar 3, 2018, Siirenias from Oak Park, CA (Zone 9b) wrote:

I often collect the "runts" that are too small to bother cooking and plant them like seeds. As I live in dry and sunny southern California, my yield isn't great, but they're free with purchase of your average head of garlic.

I'm incredibly fond of garlic greens. As long as you leave the youngest leaf to grow, you can harvest greens for garnish without a significant drop in growth rate.

I have also heard that you can hedge out gophers with these if you have an in-ground vegetable garden. As a bonus, you get new heads of garlic before the year is done!

On Jul 5, 2012, Thebotanyboss from Johnson City, TN wrote:

Very nice flavor.Garlic has always been an excellent plant to add to the garden.I have also used it as a decorative element.

On Nov 15, 2007, WUVIE from Hulbert, OK (Zone 7a) wrote:

Planting garlic is terribly easy. Something to dig with is all you need to get started. If you have a speed drill, planting garlic will be a breeze!

Attach a paddle bit to your speed drill. Use a size that will allow the garlic width to fit into the hole you will produce by using the bit. For example, most common garlic cloves are generally not over 1”
wide, so you could use a paddle bit of that size. Drill a hole three times as deep as the clove is long. It is easier to drill all of your holes, then plant. Once your holes are all drilled, push just a bit of the soil back into the hole, then push the garlic clove into the hole.

You’ll want to plant the clove so that the flat end is down in the hole and the little pointy part is sticking up. Press the ... read moresurrounding soil back into place, but not too tightly, just enough to fill in the hole. If you have chickens or know someone who has them, put a good heaping scoop of chicken litter on top of the soil, then water well. I always plant my garlic with chicken litter and they absolutely jump out of the ground in less than a week.

Be sure to keep the area well watered, but not soggy. Plant in early spring or in fall. When the garlic is ready, it will look like your plants are dying. Relax, you’ve done nothing wrong, you grew garlic!

Dig up the garlic, allow to dry completely and store in a cool, dry spot. If it is too warm or moist, the garlic will begin growing. Don’t be surprised to find the garlic growing in your refrigerator. If it reaches that stage, simply dig another hole, plant it and harvest another batch at the end of the season.

On Jan 12, 2004, ButterflyDust from Riverside, CA wrote:

Planting garlic or onions are a great and safe way to keep gophers away from your garden plants.