Growing Garlic - Grown Naturally
by John Yazo
Garlic is easy to grow in the home garden. There is nothing more rewarding than fresh home grown garlic. It is grown from the cloves of a garlic bulb. A member of the allium family,"allium sativum", that includes leeks, shallots and onioms.
Soil conditions for garlic is a loamy well drained soil with organic matter. Well rotted compost or manure as a soil amendment can be added before planting. The compost or manure should be well rotted to a dark, rich, fluffy humus. This type of soil will fulfill the appetite for the rich soil and supply the drainage the soil needs to make garlic thrive and produce a large healthy crop.
In the more Northern areas, it is more common to plant garlic at the end of the summer growing season, in the fall around mid October too late November, or soon after the first major frost. You want the cloves to start rooting before the ground freezes. Garlic is a hardy crop, but can be damaged with a deep freeze. If there is chance of this happening in your area, it is best to mulch your garlic beds with straw and remove it in the early spring.
Companion planting refers to growing different plants together that will mutually benefit each other. Garlic is a plant that is especially friendly and can assist other crops in a variety of ways. Growing garlic not only has results of your own crop to harvest, but it can assist other crops in your garden.One benefit of garlic to the home gardener is its natural fungicidal and pesticidal properties. It can help keep neighbouring plants healthy.
A powerful antibiotic and antifungal compound called allicin is released when garlic cloves are crushed. This is also what occurs when a clove is bitten into. Thus pests attacking garlic are likely to release this natural pesticide when attacking a garlic plant. It has been speculated by some that allicin evolved this way as a defence mechanism for this crop.
Garlic when companion planted with certain crops can be very beneifical to them, especially beneficial to lettuce, where it deters aphids and cabbage. As well as the protection it can supply to other plants, garlic can also be beneficial in improving flavour. Beets and cabbage are to crops that have been reported to be especially good companions and that benefit from this happening.
Not all companion planting combinations are beneficial. Garlic doesn't seem to get along well with beans, peas or potatoes, try not to plant garlic too close to these crops.
Garlic likes a good steady
supply of moisture to thrive. Dry conditions will tend to
make garlic
stop growing.A good organic rich soil that retains moisture well and
mulching with a heavy layer of organic mulch after planting your garlic
will
achieve the perfect conditions to grow garlic.
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