How to Prepare Garlic Bulbs for Planting

Growing garlic at home is easy and rewarding.

Garlic is easy to grow as well as being nutritious and delicious. A single clove grows into an entire bulb of many cloves, which can each be planted to grow many more bulbs, making garlic a self-sustaining crop. Harvest your garlic for culinary and medicinal purposes, while keeping some cloves aside to propagate next year's crop. Once your soil is ready, prepare your cloves for planting, and enjoy fresh, home-grown garlic year after year.

Things You'll Need

• Baking soda
• Liquid seaweed

Instructions

1. Select sprouted bulbs if you are starting with grocery store garlic. Keep in mind that grocery store garlic sold for eating may be imported and not compatible with your climate. Purchase cloves sold specifically for growing from a local nursery for best gardening results.

2. Split the garlic bulb into individual cloves. Each sprouted clove will grow into an entire head of garlic. Do not plant any that have been damaged: green mold disease can result from even a small nick.

3. Soak garlic cloves in a solution comprised of 1 tbsp. of baking soda and liquid seaweed in 1 gallon of water. This loosens the clove covers for removal. Discard clove covers before planting to ensure that any fungal spores, conidia or pest eggs contained in the covers are not planted with the cloves.

References

• Garlic Central: Growing Garlic in the Home Garden
• Boundary Garlic Farm; Any Home Gardener Can Grow Garlic; Paul Pospisil
• Gourmet Garlic Gardens: Growing Gourmet Garlic