Two years ago, I successfully grew garlic in my container garden. The garlic was not only easy to grow, it was delicious and it stored well – ours stored a good 10 months after harvest in the garage!
Last year I did not grow garlic and I’m truly sorry I omitted it from my line up. Store bought is just not the same. This fall and winter, I’m going to let most of my container beds go dormant so I can let the soil rest. I do need to add in compost to my beds and I’m debating growing a simple cover crop to keep things tidy and the nutrient content high for spring.
However, I decided I must at the very least plant some garlic! Around here, you want to plant it in October, before the frost hits. This is very similar to how you’d plant bulb flowers such as daffodils or tulips. I decided to gather enough compost for one of my containers, to get going. And here’s my frugal tip for you today (if you’re local, anyhow); TAGRO!
What’s TAGRO, you ask? Well, here’s the description from the site:
Proven safe and effective—and awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s highest rating for use in landscaping, vegetable gardens and indoor container gardens—all-natural TAGRO products are made from a blend of pasteurized wastewater byproducts called biosolids and other weed-free gardening components.
Yup, TAGRO is basically sewage products that have been treated for safe use in gardens. YUM! Before you object, let me tell you that we’ve used TAGRO before and with amazing results. It’s fabulous to top dress your lawn and for your flower beds as well. Here’s the other awesome part:
It’s FREE! Bring your buckets, truck, and shovel and have at it!
If you’re wondering where this is, it’s in the Port of Tacoma on Portland Avenue. You’ll see a series of signs, follow them! Or just follow your nose – I think the TAGRO station is where the “aroma of Tacoma” is really coming from.
City of Tacoma residents can also get TAGRO delivered for a small fee. We’ve gone this route before, splitting the delivery & cost with a neighbor, and it was very reasonable. My pal Susan told me she goes and shovels her own, so I figured if she could do it, so could I! I just brought some 5 Gallon Home Depot buckets and an old yard waste can with a lid and shoved it in the back of my SUV. It worked like a charm. The only problem was the smell was…. um, well, what you’d expect for this stuff. Windows rolled down are a must!
OK enough about my love of TAGRO.
I ordered this beautiful garlic from Territorial Seed in the summer. Can you plant garlic from the store in your yard? You probably *can*, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I’d stick to buying disease free, well-stored garlic intended for garden use. (But that’s just me.)
This year I wised up and ordered my garlic early so I could get the variety I really wanted to try the most! Isn’t it beautiful?
Planting garlic is ridiculously easy. Simply separate the cloves….
and plant them individually about 4-6″ apart and 1-2″ deep. That’s it. Usually I just eyeball spacing, but this year I decided to be a bit more intentional about things.
I also set all the cloves down to double-check for spacing before I covered them all up. We should be neat and tidy come spring!
Here is my planted container!
What next?
Well in early spring, I should look for the buds to pop through. Here is how my garlic looked in early May of 2011:
As the plants mature, you might get some scapes, which are the gangly looking middle stems of the plant.
They are edible and make a lovely, distinctive pesto…
I harvested my garlic that late July. But while the time involved may seem like a lot, it’s really no-fuss to grow!
And then there’s the moment when it’s all worth the wait…
I have no words how awesome this is to smell…..let alone taste.
Will you be growing garlic this year?
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
wow!!! Thank you so much! This looks easy enough for ME even!! I am definitely trying this!!
If I were to recommend ONE thing for a newbie gardener to grow (or someone that doesn’t have much time or someone that doesn’t have much of a green thumb)….garlic would be IT!!
Good luck!
how do you store it once its harvested? I am definitely going to do this!
Well I just took up the whole plants, dried them for a couple days, knocked off the dirt and store them in a paper bag in my garage. There are probably better methods than that, but even with this pretty no-fuss method, my garlic lasted for months and months.
Some people will actually braid the tops which I think is lovely, or you can snip them and store in mesh bags or a basket in a dark, cool place – my garage was great, but if you had a root cellar or shed, that’d be good too. In spite of how pretty the lovely braided garlic chains look, I would advise AGAINST storing them in your kitchen as the conditions will probably not keep them usable for as long.
Happy gardening!!
I did last year (with grocery store garlic!) and it turned out amazing. Very little fuss, although the growing time is long. Since our new back yard is a giant pile of dirt and goat heads, do you think garlic would grow well in a pot?
I have no idea, but it may be worth trying! One thing that I did notice is that the roots were surprisingly deeper than expected on these. If you try a pot, I’d go for one that’s deep! I’d love to know if you end up doing this and if so, how it works!
PS I’d definitely try Googling or Youtubing to see if anyone else has tried this before, successfully or not! GL!
Do you know if you can buy garlic at a regular store? Like Lowe’s or something?
I think I have seen it at nurseries before – and I think I have seen it at stores like Lowe’s in the past. I’d call around before making a trip out.
My suggestion is to buy it from a local farmer’s market, Territorial seed or Ashley Creek (you can find them online). The reason is that garlic that is grown in our maritime area will produce a better yield. If you get garlic at your local Lowe’s or Home Depot, it may have been grown anywhere and while it will still produce garlic, I have found that it struggles the first year to get acclimated and then if you re-plant it, it produces much larger bulbs the second year IMHO.
Thanks Chip!! I can’t speak highly enough of my love of Territorial Seed – awesome company! Thanks for the other recommendations too!!
Thank you for feedback! I’m curious about Chip’s farm too! I <3 the Olympia's Farmers Market!
Two things… first, my step-mother plants her garlic in a container each year and has great luck with it. She uses a recycled LARGE plastic container… the type you get when you buy a large tree at a nursury. Second, the key to getting a great garlic havest is spacing. I do not recommend planting cloves any closer than 6″. We sold hundreds of pound each year at the Olympia Farmer’s Market and 6″ was my standard for planting. The stick you show for spacing is much like what I used for planting… I used a 24″ garden stake marked in 6″ increments.
OH….thank you for sharing your knowledge, Chip!!!! And um, wow – do you run a farm or something? I’m uber curious!!!
We have 9 acres in NE Olympia. From 1990-2000 we “farmed” several acres of it and sold at the Market. Then the kids started graduating and moving away so my source…LOL…of free labor disappeared. About the same time my wife decided she is allergic to weeding. Very sad story. I do still have a small garden and 300 blueberry bushes. Plenty to keep me busy.
Farms in our area have caused some controversy using treated sewage. It’s not the solid form your tagro is, but it has caused some concern.
http://articles.mcall.com/2012-02-04/news/mc-sewage-fertilizer-20120203_1_sewage-sludge-synagro-biosolids
Yeah, it sounds like those might be Class B – where Tagro is Class A. THe information at Tagro’s site may be of help if folks are concerned:
http://www.cityoftacoma.org/page.aspx?hid=686
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