Homegrown Garlic

Not sure if you noticed, but most of the garlic sold in North American grocery stores these days is imported from China. Why go with an import when you grow your own domestic stuff. If you have a small garden and you live in Ontario, Canada (or a place with a similar climate) you can grow your own garlic. The best part is growing garlic is similar to growing chives…extremely low maintenance (I like that).

The first step is finding a bulb of garlic that has been grown locally (somewhere in Canada or North America). Go to a local farmers market or if you live in Ontario you can find some at the Stratford Garlic Festival this weekend. Once your find your garlic treasure, remove individual cloves and bury them a few centimeters below the soil in your garden. Cover with mulch and your done. How easy is that?

If you plant it now (fall) you will see green shoots poke through the soil in the spring. In June you’ll have to snip off the funny looking twirly pig-tail stalks (helps the bulbs get big). By August your bulbs of garlic will be ready.

Unfortunately until then you’ll have to keep buying the imports. However once your homegrown arrives it is going to blow you away...and possibly others but you don't have to worry about that until next fall.

* * * *
Brent Garell
The Kitchen Roadie
brent@cookapalooza.com