Easy Ways to Plant Garlic

The price of kitchen spices in the market is very volatile. Sometimes it's cheap, and sometimes it's unreasonably expensive. Usually, the price that fluctuates the most is chili. When it's cheap, it can be as low as 16 thousand per kilo. However, when it's at its peak, it can reach up to 120 thousand per kilo.

Not only chili is volatile, but the price of garlic also rises and falls based on the demand and supply available in the market. Often, this fluctuating price causes stress for mothers shopping at the market. Instead of stressing over the fluctuating spice prices, why not just grow your own at home?

For friends who feel challenged to grow their own spices, you can start growing garlic at home. The method of planting garlic is easy to practice, but it requires patience.

Steps to Plant Garlic

Here are the steps you need to take when planting garlic.

1. Choose a Pot

The first step is to choose a pot. Choose a pot that has many holes at the bottom so that if there is excess water, it will drain down and not create puddles. Garlic does need soil moisture, but that doesn't mean it should have excess water. The height of the pot should be around 30 cm. The goal is to ensure that the garlic cloves can be planted until they are slightly covered with soil.

2. Take One Clove

Once you have prepared the pot, the next step is to take one clove of garlic. Yes, just one clove. From this one clove, it will grow and become one whole garlic bulb. Cut a little bit off the bottom of the garlic clove so that the clove can quickly touch the soil and grow.

3. Plant in the Soil

After that, plant the clove in the soil. Make sure the soil is mixed with fertilizer. The way to plant it is to face the cut part down into the soil. Insert it until the garlic clove is completely in the soil, but the top part remains close to the surface. Don't plant it too deep.

4. Water and Provide Sunlight

Water it every day. The goal is to keep the soil moist. To get enough sunlight, place the pot in a part of your home that can receive sunlight. To produce good garlic, sunlight is needed for about 8 hours every day.

5. Wait Until the Leaves Turn Brown

Growing garlic indeed requires patience. You have to wait about 90 to 120 days to harvest. However, you don't need to be sad about the long waiting time. You can utilize the green leaves that grow. When the green leaves start to grow, you can cut them and use them for cooking. Let the garlic bulbs remain underground until they are truly large and ready to be harvested.

The reason why it's better to cut the leaves is so that the garlic can focus its growth on the bulbs, not the leaves. After all, when the leaves grow large, the "nutrients" obtained are also distributed to the leaves.

Garlic is ready to be harvested when its leaves turn brown and wilted. You can check by digging around the garlic plant. If the bulbs are already large, it's time to harvest.

The way to harvest is to clean some soil around the plant, then pull the leaves. The garlic bulbs will be pulled up. After that, you can clean the harvested garlic and dry it by sunbathing.