Growing garlic is easy, and there’s nothing better than using homegrown garlic cloves to make dishes taste savory. However, garlic plants are heavy feeders and require a decent amount of plant food to produce garlic bulbs. Discover everything there is to know about feeding your plant and how to make homemade fertilizer for garlic.
We love adding garlic powder to just about everything, from soup and stir-fry to scrambled eggs, but it doesn’t compare to the freshness of a garlic clove after harvesting garlic at the end of the growing season. The fragrance and flavor are unbeatable, and there are many health benefits to eating garlic. Planting garlic in the herb or veggie patch is the best way to enjoy organic food, whether you eat it fresh or store garlic for later.
There are different types of softneck garlic and hardneck garlic, and all types want a boost of nutrition now and then for strong plant development. Fortunately, there are many ways to give your plant what it requires before and after planting to ensure you get the finest garlic crop.
Fertilizing Garlic Plants
There are many types of garlic, from German Red garlic and Inchelium Red garlic to Polish white garlic and Italian Late seed garlic. They are all relatively simple to grow, whether you plant garlic indoors or grow garlic outside in the veggie garden.
The key is to provide your garlic seed with the correct soil to encourage germination and feed your plant as it matures. Learn what nutrients a garlic plant needs for optimal growth and ways to make homemade fertilizer.
How to Fertilize Garlic
Some plants are happy with well-balanced fertilizer, while others require a bit more nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium. Discover how to fertilize garlic by giving it the nutrients it wants to ensure your plant grows healthy garlic scapes and garlic bulbs.
Nitrogen is responsible for producing green growth, potassium promotes flower and fruit development, and phosphorus encourages healthy roots.
Garlic plants have a moderately high demand for nitrogen during the beginning of the growing process and need a soil pH between 6.0 and 7.0. Additionally, they like phosphorus, sulfur, and potassium.
The best fertilizer for garlic plants is one with higher nitrogen and lower amounts of potassium and phosphorus. If you plan on using a commercial garlic plant food, consider purchasing a balanced fertilizer with a bone meal for extra nitrogen.
When is a Good Time to Fertilize Garlic?
With most plants, fertilization is an ongoing process, with several feeding times. Find out when to fertilize garlic plants throughout the season to promote optimal leaf and bulb development.
Garlic Fertilization Times
For fall planted garlic, fertilize in the spring by side-dressing the nutrients an inch into the dirt and three inches away from the plant or spreading fertilizer over the entire bed. Continue fertilizing garlic every three to four weeks, but avoid using a high nitrogen fertilizer after May since it may stunt the garlic bulb.
Organic Garlic Plant Fertilizer
An organic garlic plant fertilizer comes from natural sources and is often the product of decomposition. Organic fertilizers are easy for a plant to digest and are safer than chemical fertilizers.
Blood meal is excellent for adding nitrogen to the soil, a necessary nutrient for garlic growth. Mix it with the dirt before planting to give garlic a slow nitrogen release. Fish emulsion increases soil fertility, and feeding it to your plants once a month until harvest provides primary nutrients necessary for a healthy plant.
Humus enriches the ground while allowing air and water to move through the dirt to the roots and bulb. Adding bone meal during the planting process encourages healthy bulbs, slowly releasing nutrients to the roots throughout the winter.
Homemade Fertilizer for Garlic with Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds contain nitrogen, a nutrient garlic plants desire, making this the perfect ingredient to feed your plants. Make a DIY fertilizer for garlic with leftover coffee grounds.
Coffee grounds are a natural garlic plant food, and what better way to use leftover grounds than to feed your plants? Add a handful of the grounds to the soil around your plant or steep the grounds in water and water your plants with the diluted coffee liquid.
Make Liquid Fertilizer for Garlic
Fish emulsion is a byproduct of the fishing industry, and combining it with seaweed creates a natural plant food that garlic plants love. This organic garlic plant fertilizer encourages bulb development and is simple to prepare.
The best fertilizer for growing garlic with good bulb development combines seaweed and fish emulsion. Fill a watering can with water, add the fish emulsion and liquid seaweed, and mix the ingredients. Give your plant a dose of the fertilizer tea once every two weeks and watch your plant flourish.
Using Epsom Salt to Fertilize Garlic Plants
Epsom salt is a naturally occurring product used to ease body aches, but it also contains minerals that are beneficial for strong plant growth. Here is how to fertilize garlic with this mineral salt.
To help your garlic plants grow strong, scatter a couple of tablespoons of Epsom salt for every three feet of planting area and water your plants as usual. The garlic bulbs get their flavor compounds from the sulfur they absorb from the dirt, and providing them with Epsom salt corrects soil imbalance.
Feeding Garlic Plants Wood Ash
Wood ash contains lime, calcium, potassium or potash, and other nutrients, making it an ideal natural garlic fertilizer. It enriches the dirt while reducing the acidity of the soil.
The next time you clean your fireplace or fire pit, consider saving the wood ash to feed your garlic plants. The ash contains traces of magnesium, zinc, iron, aluminum, boron, and other beneficial nutrients that a plant wants. Avoid using ashes from painted wood, pressure-treated wood, or cardboard.
Hardwoods like maple, ash, oak, hickory, walnut, sycamore, apple, and cherry are the most suitable types of wood to use for wood ash fertilizer. These types burn hotter and longer, producing more ash and nutrients than pine, fir, and other softwoods.
Work the wood ash into the dirt before planting, and sprinkle a layer over the bed every so often to give your garlic a nutrient boost.
Growing garlic is no more difficult than growing tomatoes, peppers, or any other vegetable, as long as you provide your plants with the nutrients they crave and harvest garlic at the right time of year. Give your plant organic fertilizer during the growing season, and enjoy an abundance of garlic greens, scapes, and bulbs.
We hope that making your own homemade fertilizer for garlic helps you grow the healthiest and tastiest garlic crop, and we’d love it if you’d share our homemade garlic fertilizers with the gardeners in your life on Pinterest and Facebook.