Growing Garlic Indoors

I don't know about you, but I always thought you had to be a very skilled individual to successfully garden.

Maybe it's because I battled birds and rodents outdoors, and my cats indoors. Maybe I had bad soil or seeds. Who knows?

Well, this particular blog will be about my journey growing garlic indoors. I've read this can't be done. Well, yes, actually it can. I currently have 4 garlic plants thriving in my kitchen. The 4th plant I planted just for the sake of this blog.

Some say your garlic will not produce a bulb without a cold spell. Others say you only need the cold spell for larger bulbs.

So in respect to both, I have placed some cloves directly into dirt, and I have another clove patiently waiting in the refrigerator. The cloves I have placed directly in the dirt, I have already collected multiple scapes from. Except for the youngest clove, that is.

So for our subject clove, all I've done is planted him right into some dirt. Not deep, but certainly enough for the roots to make their way downward, and enough dirt on top to cover the pointy tip of the clove.

Garlic actually sprouts and roots very quickly. It's the process of developing the bulb that is the time consuming portion. However, keep in mind that while you patiently await your bulb, you'll be able to collect the scapes relatively quickly.

The picture below is after only 3 days. I used organic potting soil and coffee grounds. Stay tuned!

The above picture was taken March 13th. The two pictures that I'm about to post were taken yesterday and today (March 15th and 16th).

If you have never seen for yourself how fast plants can truly grow, prepare to be amazed! I can't even keep track of how many times I've walked past a plant, and said, "Omgosh! Where did you come from?!?" 

In the pictures below, you'll see some green sprouts. These sprouts are called scapes, and are absolutely delicious! Since I'm growing indoors, I try not to let my scapes get too long before I trim them. This encourages the plant to focus more growth on the bulb, rather than tall scapes. I do allow some length, though, so I have something to work with when it comes time to hang and dry the mature (and delicate) bulbs. 

This is also a great time for me to point out the bend in the sprout. This is from the plant reaching for the sun. So be sure to keep turning your pot so your young garlic gets sun all around. More soon!

Only two days after the picture above was taken, I already started trimming down my sprouts/scapes, and had deliciousness to nibble on.

A lot of people like to cook these scapes, but I prefer to eat them raw. I believe they have much more flavor this way, and probably nutrients, too.

As my plant continues to sprout, I'll continue to collect these little scapes, and tell our bulb to focus more on growing.

If I were growing my bulbs outdoors, there would be more room to let the scapes get longer before collecting. But with container gardening, we work with what we have.

Enjoy today's pictures of fresh scape, and the after to show where I've trimmed it.

I'm not going to add a whole heck of a lot of text today. I'm just going to keep adding pictures for everyone to get an idea of what your garlic will be doing. The first picture will be about a week after I trimmed, and the second picture about 4 days from that. 

As I mentioned before, I'm going to let these guys sprout a bit, then trim them down. Enjoy!