Growing garlic as a perennial means less maintenance, year-round harvests and never buying seed garlic again. Growing garlic as a perennial is pretty simple. Just plant garlic as you normally would in the fall, and then ignore it for a few years.
What happens if you leave garlic in the ground too long? In mild climates, garlic left in the ground for too long will resprout and grow again. Underground, the bulbs will start to split. You can still eat this garlic, but it won't store as long.
And again, garlic is very winter hardy; cold weather doesn't bother it one bit. In fact, the taller the sprouts are above ground at Christmastime, the better the plants will do over winter.
Do not keep garlic in the refrigerator as this will cause it to start actively growing again. Garlic should also be stored so that it has plenty of air circulating around it—hanging mesh bags, baskets or braids are all good methods for keeping garlic for long storage.
When the lower two or three leaves turn yellow or brown, bulbs are ready to harvest. If you wait too long beyond this point, your bulbs won't have as many protective layers around cloves, which means they won't store well. At the same time, the remaining leaves will probably be showing yellow or brown tips.
Garlic should be cured or dried before storing it for later use. Start by brushing off any soil remnants clinging to the bulbs. Do not wash them off or get the bulbs wet. Leave the stalks and roots on the bulbs while they cure.
Simply hang the garlic plants or heads of garlic—skins on—with twine in batches out of direct sunlight and in a dry place for a few months. The garlic green leaves will turn brown.
To avoid disease problems, don't plant garlic in the same spot two years running. Prepare several shallow furrows in the soil that are 6 inches apart.
To avoid sprouting, place your whole bulb of garlic in a dry place away from moisture and humidity. To extend its shelf life, store dry garlic in a dark place like a pantry or cupboard, preferably closer to the ground to keep cool.
Just store in a cool (60 to 65 degrees), dimly lit place with air circulation. You don't want to put your garlic in an airtight container or it will begin to rot. Plastic bags are no good either—they'll trap moisture, which makes garlic rot faster. Reach for mesh bags or paper wrappers, instead.
Garlic competes poorly with weeds, and several studies have shown that mulching garlic through winter with straw or coarsely chopped leaves leads to bigger and better yields. Winter mulch helps keep nutrients in the soil from leaching away, and also can help buffer little plants from strong winds.
Sometimes if you have particularly wet weather then bulbs will start to rot in the ground before maturity and the tops will die off. So even the tops dying down is not a reliable sign. It's a matter of knowing your soil, your conditions and your garlic.
Too much water can also cause the garlic bulbs to rot. Early to mid July is the time to stop watering until it is time to harvest.
Garlic, like potatoes, is multiplied by vegetative reproduction rather than by sexual reproduction (seeds). Individual garlic cloves are planted and they each produce a bulb in which the cloves all have the same genetic makeup as the original clove.
Each clove, if planted in early spring or autumn, will produce a new head. If left to its own devices, garlic will eventually form a small clump as its bulbs spread over the years.
In dry regions, the garlic should be fully dried and cured after three to four weeks. Locations that are humid can take up to five weeks or longer.
Garlic that you want to store should be moved to a dry, shady, airy place once they're harvested to begin curing.
Curing takes 10-14 days. Stems may be cut before or after curing. Curing is complete when the outer skins are dry and crispy, the neck is constricted, and the center of the cut stem is hard. Storage.
The diseases that garlic can attract affect legumes, by stunting their growth. Even after harvesting the garlic, the bugs can remain in the soil and can still affect the plants. This means that you shouldn't grow beans and peas after or with garlic.
In climates with long growing seasons, peppers and tomatoes also are good candidates for planting after garlic or onions. In cooler climates, Chinese cabbage or bok choy may be the perfect choice.
Grow a garlic crop, and you'll have a garlic harvest. Then it's time to preserve the flavor and shelf life by curing garlic bulbs.
Braiding helps garlic to last longer in storage, and is a more aesthetically pleasing option than throwing your bulbs in a mesh bag. You'll feel super-cool and extra-homesteaderish when you have garlic and onions hanging in your kitchen.