Garlic Indoors

[SoyBean]

I bought a bulb of garlic for use in cooking and I had a few questions about it.

I want to start growing my own garlic. My "garden" is overgrown with weeds and such and is not usable right now. I'm going to do an overhaul the next time I have off work to get all the weeds out and break it down to bare bones. (Eventually I will make it look pretty)

So I was wondering if I could grow garlic indoors in a container? What other types of vegetables and fruits can I grow indoors? I have a sliding glass door that I will eventually be putting a table near so that I can sit potted plants on. Does the glass really make a difference in the kind of light the plant's receive? I heard that the glass doesn't allow the light to come through properly and thats why some plants die indoors.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Since you are in the same zone as I am (or at least believe yourself to be) then I would recommend that you plant your garlic now and that you start it in pots outdoors (since you don't have open garden space right now). Then sink the pots in the ground or transplant with minimal disruption to the bulbs before it gets really cold. That's a lot of work though. If you have time in the next week, just clear a patch and plant in the ground. Garlic only needs about 1 to 2" of space, so you can fit a lot of garlic in not much space.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Oh, also, you should buy garlic from a garden nursery or catalogue for planting. Don't try to grow supermarket garlic . . . it is most likely a variety meant to be grown in California, not Virginia.

 

[patandchickens]

My impression is that garlic does poorly in containers, plus it needs high light and doesn't like heat all that much, so I am not sure how wortwhile it'd be to try indoors. Of course you can always try and see what happens, but, you know.

All you need to do is clear out a TINY BIT of garden, You plant the things like 6" apart so if you clear out a 18" square you can plant, what, probably 10-12 cloves as long as there isn't anything too awful near the edges of the plot.

FWIW I've known plenty of people grow store-boughten garlic and never heard of anyone having a problem. Not to say it couldn't happen - frankly I think the vast majority of garlic in stores these days is Chinese not American anyhow, unless otherwise labelled! - but it is certainly not necessarily doomed. May's well give it a shot, if you ask me.

Have fun,

Pat, who really needs to finish clearing off the garden to plant MY garlic, now that you mention it

 

[sparks]

Sometimes when I have garlic sprout in the winter, I break apart the cloves and plant them into a pot of soil. They grow quickly and I only use the green part. That way you always have some greens to snip onto soups, salads and egg dishes. You can trim them off a couple of times and they grow back very quickly. Then toss it all into the compost. A nice mild garlic flavor!:happy_flower

 

[GrowsLotsaPeppers]

Some of the grocery store garlic is supposedly treated to resist sprouting. I've had some that didn't, even after being ignored for weeks on the kitchen counter.

The nursery lady recommended a natural foods grocer local to us for the plant stock they didn't have. It's waiting for me to clear out the spring beds to get it into the ground now.

Good luck!

 

[poppycat]

Garlic also needs a cool spell to break dormancy. One more reason to grow it outside.

 

[patandchickens]

Garlic also needs a cool spell to break dormancy. One more reason to grow it outside.

It must not need very much coolth or my stored garlic and store-boughten garlic wouldn't start sprouting so very much as they do

JME,

Pat

 

[tinychicken]

Soybean - Regarding your question about light coming through a window and how that affects plants: I recall reading somewhere that the amount of usable light greatly diminishes with each foot away from a window. Having tried to get herbs and veggies to grow successfully indoors, I would agree. They just don't seem to get enough light to grow successfully. This is my experience and may not apply to everyone else.

Regarding the garlic, I am somewhat of a fanatic. I just planted 300 plus cloves of 4 different varieties. I agree it does not take a lot of room. I plant my cloves about 4 to 6 inches apart. I'm assuming you do not want to plant 300 cloves so you probably won't need much room.

Part of what makes gardening so much fun is that it takes a very small amount of money to experiment, so if you plant your garlic indoors, we all want a report on how it performs for you!