One of my gardening ambitions is to become self sufficient in as many areas of growing as I can, closing the loop to reduce the amount of inputs my garden needs. This year I grew peas and many different flowers from my own saved seed, and this week I have added garlic to the list. I bought in my garlic last Autumn and after a very good crop, I have replanted my own cloves for next year's harvest. I hope this marks the end of buying in seed garlic.
Here is a photo diary of my garlic crop to show you the entire journey over one year.
October 2020 I purchased seed garlic for planting.
And plant it I did. About 50+ cloves, across a few different beds.
I covered the cloves with soil, straw and seaweed.
And up it came.
Throughout the season, I gradually added compost and seaweed for nutrients but also as mulch as the bulbs can begin to push up through the soil.
Then I started harvesting it from the end of June to August.
And drying it.
November 2021 and I still have lots of perfectly preserved dry garlic in the garage and I have replanted some of it for next year's harvest.
And that's one main crop set in motion for next year. Autumn and winter are my favourite gardening months which makes garlic one of my top choice vegetables for growing at home. You can plant garlic NOW so get going if it's something you'd like to do.
