Garlic Cloves to Grow Big Garlic Bulbs
If you're a garlic lover, growing your own garlic can be a rewarding experience. Not only is it easy to grow, but it can also provide you with a bountiful harvest of flavorful garlic bulbs. In this blog post, we'll discuss how to grow big garlic bulbs and have the biggest garlic harvest of your life!
Choose the Right Garlic Cloves
The first thing you want to do is choose the right garlic cloves. Big cloves produce big garlic bulbs, and small cloves produce small garlic bulbs. So, choose the biggest cloves you can find to plant. You'll be surprised by the difference in size of your garlic harvest.
Plant Garlic in the Right Time
The time of year also matters in getting a big garlic harvest. The best time to plant your garlic is in the fall, about two to three weeks before your first frost. Garlic is frost-hardy and can tolerate light snow, so plant it before the ground freezes up. Garlic planted in the fall will overwinter in your ground and be ready to grow when the weather warms up in spring. You can also plant garlic in the spring, but the harvest won't be as great as the one planted in the fall.
Prepare Loose Soil
Garlic doesn't need too much loose soil. About six inches of loose soil is enough, which you can easily achieve by creating wooden boxes or mounding up the soil in your garden. Garlic loves organic matter, but not as much as other vegetables like carrots, beets, and potatoes. Mix about 30% compost with 70% native clay soil to create your growing medium.
Provide Proper Fertilizer
Garlic loves nitrogen, so use a fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen or a balanced fertilizer like 8-4-2. Use about a quarter of a cup, which is about 50 grams of fertilizer per square foot. If you're using chemical fertilizer like triple 16, follow the amount instructions. However, it's recommended to use organic fertilizer to grow organic produce.
Plant Garlic
Now, it's time to plant your garlic. Garlic must be planted thumbs length deep and a hands length apart. Use the back of your trowel or thumb to create a two-inch hole and plant the garlic with the pointy end up and the flat end down. Make sure the tip of the garlic is just right below the surface of the soil. After planting, cover the soil and water well. Keep the soil consistently moist, but don't overwater.
In conclusion, growing big garlic bulbs is easy and requires a little bit of planning and care. Choose the biggest garlic cloves, plant them in the fall, provide loose soil and proper fertilizer, and plant them correctly. With these tips, you'll have the biggest garlic harvest of your life! Check out the video in the blog post for a complete guide to growing garlic, including harvest results and an experiment on growing smaller vs. bigger cloves.