Garlic Passion

Some might think roses and garlic go together like Chanel and fish oil, but that’s simply not true. In many parts of the world, garlic is a cash crop, but I think of it as being planted in flower beds.

Back in the day, home gardeners grew garlic alongside their roses because garlic acted as a natural pesticide to protect the pretty showy flowers. At least that’s what my Aunt Dinah says. It was nothing to see tall Abraham Lincoln red roses with tall garlic heads bobbing in the breeze next to the fragrant blooms.

I haven’t personally gardened enough to know whether my thumb is green or has the black death where plants or concerned. Everything I know about gardening I’ve learned at my mother’s knee. Well, my mom and all her friends like Aunt Dinah. These women have backyards that look as if they could easily grace the cover of some gardening magazine.

Because of my newly awakened interest in garlic, I started wondering if I could grow it in a flower pot. Well, guess what? You can grow the aromatic herb in pots. Of course, the best way, is to plant it in the ground. Farmers plant it in rows about a foot apart, just like other garden vegetables.

So whether you want to plant them in a pot or in the ground, here’s how you do it.

Just take a head of garlic and break the cloves apart. Push the cloves into the dirt. For a large container, use about four cloves and space them equidistant from each other. In your garden, just push them into the soil wherever you want them.

Garlic is amazingly easy to grow, but in most areas, the time to plant is in the fall. The green blades you see on top and the roots beneath the surface will grow in the winter. When spring comes and the soil warms, the bulbs will increase in size.

When the green blades start to wither and look kind of dead, that’s the time to harvest the garlic. Don’t try to yank them from the ground. Use a spade to loosen the soil and gently pull the bulb out.

You can braid the greens or just rubber band them together. Hang them from a garage rafter or in the kitchen the same way you’d hang flowers to dry. Use as needed.

I’m inspired by all my mom’s green growing things. I think it’s time for me to discover if I’ve inherited a green thumb too. I’ve got a garlic bulb, a clay pot, and some potting soil. Wish me luck!