I love using garlic in cooking and it is really easy to grow your own. Heads of garlic for planting can be obtained from garden centres and mail order catalogues. You can get garlic for free by planting supermarket bulbs but the crop won't be as good. Split the garlic heads into individual cloves and plant these about 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Plant a bit deeper in light soils but if your soil if heavy and poorly drained you will need to plant about 1 inch deep on a bed of coarse sand and potting compost. Once planted just leave it to grow, weeding when necessary and watering in dry spells in spring and summer. You can plant the cloves in stages between now and February (depending on soil and weather conditions) which will give a harvest between June and August.
Lift when the leaves start to turn yellow and bend at the stem. Dry outside for about 7-10 days if the weather is fine and dry, otherwise dry in a well ventilated greenhouse. Store in hanging bunches or plaits so that air can circulate the bulbs.
If you don't have room in the garden to grow garlic, grow it in pots as it is shallow rooting and well suited to container growing.
Gardening blog featuring a medium sized traditional English garden with mature trees, shrubs, lawn, herbaceous borders, vegetable patch, greenhouse and containers. All photos have been taken in my garden.
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