Today is a spooky day. In these days of an annoying virus roaming around in the world, Halloween and the Day of the dead near us, let’s talk about one of the ways to keep some of the scariest creatures in fantasy, vampires, out of reach. And how we can do that? You guessed it, with garlic!
Now, seriously though, garlic is an amazing antibiotic and an awesome addition to any food you may think of. Yes, maybe the smell and even the flavor do not please everybody’s preferences. However, it sure does make chicken and meat taste even better.
But how about recycling what we do not use the garlic? How to regrow garlic to keep using it for our dishes and some medicinal uses? Let’s find out if this “vampire killer” can even be recycled by regrowing it in water or soil.
What do you need to regrow garlic in the water?
The first order of business is to find out what do you need to regrow garlic in the water. Apart from the obvious, which is garlic … You would need some other things you may already have at your home and, if it not, you may buy them from your local grocery store or a greenhouse nearby.
You will need a container or a shallow dish to put some water and garlic. To answer how to regrow garlic, you do not need a lot of water at first. But that could change later on (not by a lot).
The best way to test the garlic is to put it on the side of the container. In theory, it needs to be standing straight up but it may happen that it is going down sideways. In that case, just take it and stand it up again. If it keeps going to a side, just leave it floating in the water. It would grow a little stalk in a few days; when that happens, it would be ready to get into the soil (if you want even more garlic bulbs). Just leave at least one day more before doing so; do not rush things.
What do you need to regrow garlic in soil?
Now, for the counterpart, how to regrow garlic in soil; and, more specifically, what do you need to regrow garlic in soil? Well, you do not need that much, apart from the garlic of course. If you are considering getting garlic from the market, make sure you get those that still have the skin around it.
You would need to check if your garlic bulb is chemically treated. This may be very normal in some countries where producing food is way industrialized, and said industries may add many additives that can prevent your garlic from sprouting. If you do not know if that is the case for the one you have, just put it into the refrigerator for two weeks. If it is not treated that way, you may see some sprouts appearing. Otherwise, it is treated and this would not be good for planting.
For planting, get an area that can be good enough for many garlic to grow. Some sources recommend up to 12 inches squared as the sweet spot, however that depends on how many are you planting. They also do not require lots of sunlight but get them to know the sun rays for at least six hours.
Do not go big with watering for garlic this time. What you can produce by getting them way too wet is garlic that rots fairly easy. Temps are also important, even though garlic can resist weird temps, especially from winter and springtime. Cold temps are mostly good for garlic, but a balance between cold and hot works too, and that also can be dictated by the species of garlic you are planting so, make your research.
How to properly plant garlic in soil?
Now that we got the first part done, let’s keep answering how to regrow garlic but now a with focus on actually planting it. How to properly plant garlic in soil?
You would need to prepare the garlic for planting first. First, the skin needs to go so remove it and split the garlic into many cloves, preferably big ones if you want to get big garlic bulbs.
When it comes the time to dig, just make holes deep enough to hold your garlic cloves standing up and add some organic compost. Why organic compost? Because it works best in these kinds of vegetables. If you want to try some food you have the intention to throw away, that can also work (if it is organic)
For separation, around 5 inches from garlic to garlic is ideal. That would allow them to grow big bulbs and give you the best harvest. Also, add fertilizer every two weeks or so, and water constantly to get your garlic crop to grow the way is meant to be. The watering process starts with not too much of it, to get the soil damp enough. And in the following times reducing the amount progressively.
You would know when it is the time for harvest when the crop is starting to turn dry. This may happen around three months or even a little more. Remove them gently from the ground and put them to dry off in the sun for some hours.
Conclusion
After all these instructions on how to regrow garlic, let’s wrap things up with the following: Yes, garlic can be regrown easily but it would require some space for the bulbs to be big. And in water, you would get only the roots and not the entire thing again. It is like a step in the process if you want to add it up.
Growing garlic is fun and easy to do. The most work you may have to do first is to own a clove of garlic to do these steps. You don’t need much to get started. Just the garlic bulbs, some gardening tools, and fertilizer (if you are going to plant it in soil, which is recommended) or a water container and water.
The number of green things you can regrow at home can make an awesome activity to try on in these spooky times; while also helping the planet with the recycling of your food waste (that it would be waste no more). This can also be a nice science project you can try with you kids to teach them about the plant that can regenerate like garlic, scallions, pineapple, lavender, lettuce, and many others.
