The majority of garlic sold in grocery stores comes from China (over 5,000 miles away). Garlic is a reasonably easy plant to grow and stores well. It’s also quite beneficial to your health.
Even the tiniest vegetable patches may readily meet an ordinary family’s garlic needs. If you took a bulb of garlic, separated the cloves, and planted them 10cm apart in the ground, each clove would eventually turn into a bulb of garlic. That is the allure of it.
What Month Do You Plant Garlic?
Garlic grows perfectly well in pots in Ireland and should be planted from October-mid December during spring and February and March during spring. It is best harvested during June.
Ideal Garlic Varieties
The following is the list of the best varieties of garlic.
- Dukat
- Thermidrome
- Vallelado
- Printanor (spring)
Does Garlic Grows Well In Ireland?
Garlic grows well in Ireland and the following are ways to go about it.
Before planting garlic, ensure you choose a kind that is appropriate for the Irish weather and the season you are planting it.
If you purchase garlic from a grocery store, it may have been imported from another country, such as China or Spain – the kind would likely struggle to grow in the Irish environment, which is why we advocate buying garlic from a local source.
Garlic can thrive in almost any soil. The richness left in the soil from a previous harvest should be enough to get autumn-planted garlic through the winter, with a top dressing of general fertilizer applied in February or early March.
Before growing garlic in the spring, it is normally recommended to apply compost or fertilizer. Autumn and spring garlic kinds exist, so make sure you know which one you bought.
Autumn garlic should be planted in late October to mid-December, while spring garlic should be planted in February and March. Individual cloves should be pushed about 2cm below the soil surface every 15cm in rows 30cm apart.
Direct planting is usually the simplest technique. If the soil is damp, sow in module trays and transplant once sprouted. Garlic, like onions, despises weed competition, so keep the bed free of weeds. In dry conditions, water as needed, but don’t overwater.
Does Garlic Grow Well In Pots?
Garlic grows in a pot and the following are ways to go about it.
Fill the receptacle halfway with the soil mix once you have your planting medium and pot. Mix in a slow-release balanced granular plant food, such as a 10-10-10, into the soil.
Backfill with extra soil, pushing around each clove, and insert the bulbs with the pointy side up. If the soil is dry, water it until it is equally wet.
On top of the pot, plant a short-term crop or completely cover it with organic mulch. The shoots will emerge in the spring and finally transform into scapes. These can be used in stir-fries or eaten raw.
Your garlic should be ready to dig up and harvest by late June. Garlic container planting is both simple and lucrative. For delicious ready-to-eat flavor and zing in all your food, plant it as an annual part of your fall planting.
Could You Soak Garlic Before Planting?
Garlic does not have to be soaked before planting. In fact, many excellent garlic gardeners skip this process and simply plant the cloves directly into the ground, resulting in a fantastic garlic crop.
How To Harvest Garlic
The following are various steps taken on how to harvest garlic.
From April onwards, garlic can be harvested green and completely utilized. It can also be dried after being grown to maturity.
If you want to dry the garlic, dig it gently out of the soil when the plant turns yellow (usually in June or July) but don’t let it go too far or the flavor will be lost. When a plant turns brown, it has gone too far. Lift cautiously and hang to dry for two weeks in the sun (or indoors if it’s raining).
Challenges Of Garlic
The following are the various challenges garlic faces.
Rust might wreak havoc on leaves, but it shouldn’t wreak havoc on bulbs. Because it attacks the root, white rot is more severe. Sadly, there isn’t anything that can be done about it.
For the next ten years, don’t plant garlic, onions, or leeks in that soil. Buying garlic from a reputable source is one approach to avoid white rot, but this is easier said than done because even the most reputable vendors might get a bad batch of garlic.
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