Keep Slugs, Vampires At Bay by Growing Garlic

If you want a plant that can season a variety of recipes, look great hanging in your kitchen and ward off vampires, try growing garlic.

In ancient Egypt, garlic was worshipped. In ancient Greece, athletes chewed garlic before competitions. Garlic has been used as a natural mosquito repellant and planting garlic in your vegetable garden can keeps pests like slugs away from other plants.

Garlic is easy to grow. It is a bulb plant that is best cultivated as an annual. To start your garlic crop, buy one (yes, just one) garlic bulb from a seed company, garden supply store or even the grocery store. The garden store will be able to advise you on which variety of garlic will grow best in your planting zones. Break the single bulb into individual cloves for planting.

In the spring, plant the garlic cloves in the sunny part of your garden. Plant the cloves in clusters or rows with three or four inches between each one. Place the garlic cloves about two inches deep in the ground with the pointy side up.

The Right Conditions for Garlic

Garlic will thrive in rich soil with compost mixed in. Make sure the soil drains well. A few weeks after planting, add some composted manure to the garlic patch. If your garlic plants start to flower during the growing season, break the flower stems off.

You’ll know your garlic is ready to harvest when the foliage turns brown and dies off. Gently lift the mature garlic bulbs out of the ground. Brush the dirt off the bulbs and wash them. Dry the bulbs for a week or two out of direct sunlight. The sun can burn garlic bulbs.

When the garlic bulbs have dried, store them in a mesh bag or braid them together to make an attractive garlic rope to hang in your kitchen. You may harvest enough garlic to make ropes for your friends and neighbors. They’ll be grateful for your help in keeping the vampires and mosquitoes away.

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