How to Grow and Care for Garlic in Containers
Intro: The garlic plant is very difficult to grow in plant containers in kitchen gardens. If you decide to try growing garlic, it may not produce edible garlic for you. If your plant does produce bulbs, they might be small, or you may end up with only one clove. Even if they don’t produce edible bulbs, they are interesting container plants that may sprout a spherical bunch of small purple flowers (some varieties are white) that are suitable for flower arrangements. In addition to garlic bulbs, leaves and flowers of this plant are also edible. The soil will smell like garlic for a while after the plant is gone, and if you walk by a garlic plant, you may get a whiff of it!
Scientific Name: Allium sativum
Plant Type: Annual in the onion family
Light: Full sun
Water: Keep the garlic plant in well-drained potting soil. It should never have dry soil, and it shouldn’t have overly wet potting soil, either, or the bulb will rot.
Propagation: Plant an old sprouting garlic clove that you can’t use for food anymore. Choose the largest cloves for planting.
Misc. Info: Garlic should be planted in a deep plant container with well-drained soil (add sand to your soil to aid with draining). The garlic plant benefits from fertilizer, such as worm castings from a vermicompost bin. Plant garlic bulbs in the fall after the first frost, and it will grow slowly during the winter. Harvest your garlic cloves in the spring after half of the leaves die and turn brown. Dig up the garlic bulbs (don't pull them up) and hang them in a dark, dry area until the papery skin develops. Then the garlic from your kitchen garlic is ready to eat!
Garlic plants should not be grown in the spring, as it has trouble growing in temperatures above 85 degrees.
