Almost everyone who grows garlic grows it from “seed garlic” (individual cloves from bulbs). However, garlic can also be grown from “true garlic seeds” as the sexual reproduction of garlic is much more complicated and rarely guarantees viable seeds.
There is another option between the seeds of garlic and true garlic. Grow garlic from bulbs in the upper setting that behave like seeds (but technically not a species as it is the result of asexual reproduction).
The bulbs form on the stems of rounded flowers known as the landscape and look like miniature cloves of garlic. Many people call these bulbs “garlic seeds.” It can also be planted to produce genetically identical crops (usually 2-3 years).
So why would you choose to plant bulbs instead of cloves?
Well, if you’re looking for an easy and cost-effective way to grow hundreds or thousands of garlic plants, bulbs are the way to go.
Typical hard neck garlic varieties produce only 4-8 cloves, large enough for planting, but if the scape remains intact, they produce 10-100 balbils. Different varieties of garlic produce light bulbs of different sizes, ranging from pea sizes to as small as rice grains.
Maturing some garlic skips each year means that you can collect perennial garlic patches of plants by gathering lots of perennial garlic patches that provide harvest at every stage (baby garlic, fully grown garlic, everything in between).
Collect garlic seeds
Hard neck garlic plants usually bloom from late spring to early summer, creating delicious treats that we all know as garlic scenery. Gardeners usually stunt bulb growth by redirecting energy to seed production, thus removing the scape as soon as they appear. Needless to say, if you didn’t harvest the skip, you’ll throw away the delicious food completely!
Read more: How to use garlic scapes in your everyday cooking
However, if you want to collect seeds, let them mature from late summer until autumn. The flower crusters continue to expand and eventually open and split the sheath to reveal the green or purple light bulbs inside. (The color depends on the type of garlic grown.)
Quick Tips
Can I eat garlic bulbs? Yes, you can! When they are still fresh on the plants, you can break them down and use them like regular garlic.
When the seeds (bulbs) mature and dry, they begin to turn brown and the rest of the plant dies.
Once this occurs, cut the entire bulb as is. You can also harvest the garlic bulbs at the bottom of the plant. This is because it is still usable (but may be smaller than other bulbs harvested previously).
Pull the bulbs apart and allow them to dry completely in a well-ventilated area for several days. Because the bulbs are on the ground, they dries much faster than hardened garlic bulbs.
Once completely dry, you can store the bulbs along with other garden seeds.
Related: How to preserve and store garden seeds for next year
Garlic growth from Bullville
Planting bulbs are a little different to planting seed garlic. One small bruville is established in the soil and requires a year to grow to the size of the garlic size. It takes another year (and sometimes up to two) to produce a fully harvestable light bulb.
Plant bulbs in autumn, just like garlic in the seeds. (It is recommended to plant far from normal crops so that you don’t accidentally harvest the next summer and get disappointed with the size.)
The bulbs are so small that you just need to fill 1/2 inch deep in well-drained soil about 4 inches apart. Keep root burrs and weed free with moderate watering and patiently dig time until the plants are ready for harvest. (You’ll know when using your same trick to measure garlic when it’s fully developed.)
But the wait is well worth it. Garlic grown from top-setting bulbs is virtually free, given how abundant you are.
