Are you growing your own? At least for the greens? They go with everything.
Garlic is self sterile in most cases like Saffron, you grow Garlic from garlic (like most Alliums, many Alliums are not sterile, but still grown from clones). In almost any climate you can grow it. These peeps are trying to revive the wild form. https://hoodrivergarlic.com/
If you have a windowsill and a pot, really just a bit of dirt, delicious garlic can be yours at home.
If you grow just for greens take your smallest cloves, not worth peeling, and stick them in the dirt. If you are growing for bulbs use the most flavorful and disease resistant.
Like Saffron, plant it randomly for future generations , and let it spread, it is not invasive.
Edit: tomorrow is Fajitas night, so some of these will die for the cause. Please pour one out for my dead homies.
I have a couple of Aerogardens and I’m growing different herbs in one and tomatoes and cucumbers in the other. Never thought to try garlic. Might have to give it a try.
It really will grow almost anywhere, and it costs you nothing if you use the redheaded stepchildren, smallest cloves for greens. (You probably can’t say that anymore, but since I am one, evs yo).
Another benefit of garlic is that you can actually plant it in late fall, so it has just enough time to sprout roots before going dormant. That way it springs right up when the weather starts to warm, way before you’d have other garden plants ready to go.
I put a piece of garlic from the supermarket into the soil of a flower pot on my balcony to try and deter aphids. It grew 30cm long leafes and I think it will make it thru the winter. I hope it won’t use up all the good stuff in the soil and kill the actual flowers.
Garlic will repel aphids on some plants, but other aphids will feast on garlic, it depends on the climate. A spray of water with a little soap and a pinch of salt is lethal to most aphids. The soap helps make it stick.
Garlic spray is my goto for dealing with pests from bugs to cats. Most things hate it, it smells like hell.
Put a few cloves in a spray bottle, leave it in the sun for a few days, add a pinch of salt and a little soap.
I’d love to try this. On the few occasions I’ve tried to grow garlic it didn’t work out, but I think it was because I planned at the wrong time or in the wrong type of soil. I’ll give it another shot!
if you’re growing indoors, it’s pretty easy to force garlic to grow out of season. really, it comes down to making sure it has adequate light, which if you’re in a terribly cave-like apartment, means a grow light with a timer. Garlic was among the easiest things to force when I was first starting out with my apartment’s living wall- sharing that space with salad greens and herbs.
As a side note, if you only have one pot, you can also grow them along side some other fresh herbs like thym and rosemarry. (depending on the pot, it might get a little too crowded for big leafy things like parsely and cilantro/coriander)
Cool, thanks! I have some plants that I brought indoors that are under a grow light. I can try putting some garlic in a pot and see how it goes.
heh. no worries. For the record, the living wall was the best thing I did with my apartment when I was still living in one. Something about the fresh herbs, the leafy greens, and the constant supply of actually-good tomatoes.
other good plants, if you want to get your plant-parent on, include things like strawberries and small cucumbers, peppers. The caveat with those is you’re likely to have to pollinate manually. Living walls are fun way to get fresh food and get some greenery inside.