# My garlic is growing!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garlic-is-growing/153978>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 10, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garlic-is-growing/153978 "2003-02-10T00:33:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garlic-is-growing/153978/1 "2003-02-10T00:33:36Z")

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[Look!](http://users.rcn.com/jbartlet/images/garlic.gif)

Considering it’s sitting in a dark warm corner of my kitchen it’s doing quite well. Should I plant it? Soak it in a glass of water? If I break it apart and plant the single cloves would each one become a whole bulb again?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garlic-is-growing/153978/2 "2003-02-10T00:37:40Z")

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If you plant it in the garden, uit will grow and if you have the right soil and climate, yes, each clove will multiply into a whole bulb.

But there’s a better way; plant it in the garden (or in a big pot on the balcony if you don’t have one) and keep it well watered; pull it up when it’s about the size of a spring onion (is that called scallions in the uSA?) and use the whole thing (except the roots of course) like a small leek, chopped in a stir fry or something - it’s really good this way, add it toward the end of cooking.

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**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garlic-is-growing/153978/3 "2003-02-10T00:41:57Z")

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> [@](#):
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> If I break it apart and plant the single cloves would each one become a whole bulb again?

Yep, that’s pretty much how it works. Garlic is best planted in the fall, same time as tulips, daffodils and other flowering bulbs. Harvest is usually the next August or so, when the tops begin to turn yellow. You might want to let it grow on an extra year as you’re planting it in the spring. You’ll want to plant it deep, at least 6" or so. I don’t know if a late frost will kill the bulbs or just the green tops (leaves).

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-garlic-is-growing/153978/4 "2003-02-10T01:14:24Z")

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Holy crap, I have some sprouting cloves and I never thought to plant 'em.