For those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere, it has now passed Winter Solstice, and the shortest day. We are living in our winter, which is the time for colds, flus and viruses to go around. However, thanks to Mother Nature, there are many plants to boost our immune system, help us stay healthy, and help us ward off any nasty infections.
Garlic is one of those plants, and it is easy to grow in your garden, even if you are a first time gardener. You can grow it in a garden bed, or in pots and containers, so it is quite versatile.
Traditionally, it is said to plant garlic on the shortest day, and harvest on the longest day. However, it is also possible to plant your garlic any time between April and July, so you still have plenty of time. The earlier it is planted, the bigger the bulb development, but you can still grow some pretty good garlic by planting in June or July. If you are planting by the moon, it is good to plant on a New Moon phase, to encourage the growth of new green shoots.
Garlic is great for adding flavour to foods, but it also has many health benefits. It contains all I in, a compound which has antibacterial, antiviral, anti inflammatory and anti fungal properties. It can help to reduce blood pressure, in high doses, over time, and it also helps to lower harmful cholesterol. It contains lots of antioxidants, and can help protect your body from the harmful effects of heavy metal damage, eg industrial lead, which can lead to organ toxicity (www.facty.com).
Those are some pretty good reasons to add garlic to your garden!
To grow garlic, it is best to buy garlic cloves from your garden centre, rather than the supermarket. Supermarket garlic is often treated with chemicals, and they also have the bottom roots trimmed off. You need garlic with the bottom roots left still on for successful growing.
Garlic likes its own bed or pot, it doesn’t like competition very much. It likes a sunny spot, with free draining soil (www.istuff.co.nz). You can prep the soil with plenty of compost, sheep pellets, seaweed, general fertiliser, before planting.
Plant individual cloves, not the whole bulb. Make sure to plant the fattest, juiciest, outer cloves, and then use the skinny inner cloves in the kitchen.
Plant in soil at least 5cm deep, so that they don’t rise up through the ground during frosts. Space the cloves around 15-30cm apart, and you should see green shoots in about 3-4 weeks.
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Happy gardening 🌻
