Growing your own garlic at home can be fun and relatively easy, even for those without a green thumb. Garlic grows from the individual cloves, with each clove producing one plant with a single bulb, which may in turn contain up to twenty cloves. Because of this, garlic is self-sustaining. Garlic’s unique fungicidal and pesticide properties can also help keep neighboring plants healthy.
Garlic typically enjoys a Mediterranean climate, but can be grown in cooler climates as well. Choose a garden site where the soil is not too damp and sunshine is abundant. Plant the cloves individually, standing upright and about an inch under the surface. Cloves should be planted about 4 inches apart, with rows about 18 inches apart. The best time to plant garlic in the USA or Europe is early spring or late fall/early winter. Although knowing when to pick garlic isn’t an exact science, a good rule of thumb is to harvest your garlic when half of the leaves around the base of the bulb are green and the other half are turning brown and dying off. Take your garlic inside right away, brush off any dirt, and store in a cool, dry place.
Although sometimes maligned, garlic has had an amazing array of nutritional and medicinal applications throughout human history, and it’s still improving the health of many today. So grab a clove and enjoy the many benefits of nature’s oldest superfood: garlic.