How to Grow Garlic Indoors in a Pot

Growing garlic is an ideal project for the beginning or seasoned gardener. An entire garlic bulb is planted into soil and it creates a garlic vine. You can plant many different kinds of garlic, such as the White Pearl, Lautrec Wight and Purple Moldovan Wight. Garlic can be planted indoors in containers, where it can be grown in most seasons. Planting in containers indoors can also limit the garlic's exposure to disease or insects. Garlic does take attentive care and the right materials to grow a healthy, flavorful plant. This article will tell you how to grow garlic indoors in a pot.

Steps

1

Choose a pot that is at least 8 inches (20 cm) deep and has holes for drainage. If you want to plant more than 1 garlic bulb, the pot should be big enough to accommodate planting garlic bulbs 4 inches (10 cm) apart and 4 inches (10 cm) away from the side of the container.
2

Put on your gardening gloves.
3

Mix your potting soil with your gardening sand. It should be a 3 to 1 ratio of soil to sand.
4

Fill your container with soil, leaving an inch (2.54 cm) of space from the top.
5

Take conventional garlic bulbs. Hold them with the flat end (the bottom) facing down and the pointed end facing up.
6

Push the bulb 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) into the soil. There should be 1 inch (2.54 cm) of soil between the top of the bulb and the top of the soil. These planted parts of the garlic bulb are called "cloves". The whole garlic is the bulb.
7

Plant garlic bulbs 4 inches (10 cm) away from each other.
8

Place your pot so that it received approximately 8 hours of direct sunlight per day. A great place to store the pot is a kitchen windowsill.
9

Place the container of garlic in a sink, bathtub or another place that will allow water to drain. Water the soil by sprinkling it evenly with water. Allow it to drain through the holes in the bottom of the pot.
10

Water often enough to keep the soil moist, but not very wet. This will depend greatly on the sunlight and warmth of your house. The warmer your house, the more often you will have to water.
11

Watch the garlic as it starts to sprout chive-like green leaves.
12

Clip off the flowers at the base when they begin to sprout. When you do this, all the energy will go to making the bulb bigger.
13

Harvest your garlic 8 to 10 months later when the leaves begin to die and turn brown.
14

Hang the harvested garlic in a cool, dry place, like a garage. They should be dried for about a week.
15

Eat or cook with your dried garlic.

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Video

Dave shows you how simple it is to grow garlic in containers.

Tips

You may want to get them from a gardening supply store, since many supermarket bulbs are chemically treated to prevent sprouting and will not grow well.
If your container is large and you want to plant more than 1 row of garlic, make sure they are planted at least 18 inches (47 cm) away from each other.

Warnings

Do not hesitate to harvest your garlic once the leaves have died and begun to shed. The cloves can become malformed.
Growing garlic indoors can cause strong odors to be released. They may overpower other smells in your home.