Gardening is one of the most enjoyable things to do in the world. If you are a gardener, you know that it takes a lot of time and effort to grow a garden. However, if you’re a garlic lover, you might want to grow your garlic chives. These tasty greens are an excellent source of vitamin C and are also known to have anti-cancer properties. In this article, I am going to show you how to grow garlic chives in a pot.
Garlic belongs to the Liliaceae family, a perennial crop, that needs 15-21℃ temperature for growth and development. It requires well-drained, rich in organic matter soil with a pH level of about 6.0-7.0 and 45-50% humidity. Nitrogen level should be adequate with well-rotten manure or compost for garlic chives care and maintenance. The best varieties to grow in the home garden with the best taste are German white, French pink, and Bogatyr. Garlic plant irrigation level should be 1 inch of soil per week in the summertime or dry span, but rinse plant after every ten days when the temperature cools down. Diseases also attack plants like downy mildew, basal rot, botrytis rot, white rot, and many others.
This article tells you about growing garlic chives in pots. You will learn how to grow garlic chives in a pot and which varieties to choose from.
Also, read the article How to grow garlic in Florida?
How to grow garlic chives in a pot?
- There are some protocols to grow garlic chives in the home garden to have fresh organic and natural vegetable for cooking food. I’ll share some significant steps with you to quickly grow garlic chives from seeds or garlic chives with very little care and maintenance. Garlic plants are also prone to diseases and pests attacks but can be treated with organic and inorganic fertilizers.
- First of all, the climate you need to grow garlic chives should be late spring or summer to sow seeds or garlic cloves.
- Garlic plant can grow indoors as well as outdoor but needs full sun for germination and development.
Garlic chives grow through cloves
- Take a ceramic pot should be with a drainage hole filled with well-drained, sandy loam, high organic matter, 6 -7 pH level, 50% humidity level for sowing of garlic cloves or seeds.
- Select the fresh, disease and injury-free cloves or bulbils for sowing except the long slender.
- Take the cloves of garlic and put them in the soil two-four inches apart and two inches deep.
- It would be best to sow the broad root side facing down and pointed end facing up and plant in rows spaced ten to fourteen inches apart in soil.
- The temperature should be 21-25℃ at the time of sowing, growth, and developmental stages. Suppose you want to grow garlic chives. You can do it anytime you want, whether it’s cold outside, grow them inside in a pot or container.
- Irrigate the pot after sowing to make it moist new shoots will develop in a couple of weeks.
- Some people can use the green shoots of garlic chives for cooking; snip them if you want some of them. But if you wish for proper garlic bulbs, don’t cut those green leaves.
- The garlic plant needs plenty of sunlight for growth and development.
- It needs direct sunlight and not artificial light so avoid artificial light. Indoor pots need direct sunlight, so put them near the window or where plants get a lot of it.
More about Garlic chives grow through cloves
- The fertilizer requirement needs an adequate amount of nitrogen and organic fertilizer; plenty of compost can work. Coffee and tea leaves are best for the growth of garlic cloves as a natural fertilizer. Banana peels are also suitable for growth after drying and crushing into small chunks or pieces. Some diseases and insects pests can also attack garlic in development from sowing to developmental stages.
- Apply fertilizers to avoid damage and harmful effects on the plant the growth on any level. Garlic chive takes 60 days for full development and growth, so harvest when the leaves attain the proper size and color changes from green to yellowish. Harvest them with the help of a shearer or sharp knife, dig holes, and put them out, preventing damage and bruising.
How to grow garlic chives?
Garlic chives can be grown from garlic seeds, direct sowing of garlic seeds in the soil after the last frost of spring ¼ deep in rows 18″ apart, thinning to six-eight inches apart as soon as the seedlings appear. Germination of garlic chives starts just after 14 days of sowing seeds. Garlic chives grow well as a container plant. The sowing of garlic seeds for garlic chive growth should be indoor during March and April, ready for planting at the end of May or when all danger of frost has passed. Seeds need darkness to germinate to sprout seedless.
Garlic chives seeds
You can save garlic seeds for one to two years in containers in cool and dry places; these can be separated from flowers, removed from the chaff, and keep them. Garlic chive seeds can also be used as a spice after drying, and grounding can e sprinkled on food. It tastes so yum!
What are garlic chives?
- Garlic chives grow broader flat leaves that taste garlic mildly
- Flowers of garlic chives can vary among varieties
- Garlic chive flowers are usually white
The difference between garlic chives and chives is
- Chive is Allium schoenoprasum L.
- Garlic chive is Allium tuberosum L.
- Both are perennial garden plants but have different flavor profiles, and chives have an onion-like taste. Garlic chives are significantly more garlicky.
- The Garlic chives bloom later than onion chives
- Garlic chive leaves are flatter than those of onion chives flowers are usually white
Garlic chives use
- They can be used in stir-fry, tempura, and stuffed into dumplings.
- Garlic chives can also be minced and used to finish meat, poultry, or seafood.
- They were also used for flavoring soups, marinades, vinegar, and dipping sauces.
- Garlic is used to make egg dishes.
- Garlic is an anti-emetic herb that improves kidney function.
Medicinal uses of garlic chives
The garlic plant is used as antibacterial
- Cardiac
- Depurative
- Digestive
- Stimulant
- Stomachic
- Tonic
It is used internally to treat
- Urinary incontinence
- Kidney
- Bladder weakness
The garlic seed is
- Carminative
- Stomachic
Garlic chives benefits
- These are rich in Vitamin C
- Eating chives prevents cold and fever
- Garlic is rich in riboflavin, potassium, vitamin A, iron, thiamin, and beta carotene
- These elements help in blood count increase, maintain blood pressure, and increase immunity power.
Varieties of Garlic chives
| German porcelain garlic |
| Northern white garlic |
| Chesnok red garlic |
| Musik garlic |
| Vietnamese red garlic |
| Elephant garlic |
| French pink |
| Calabrian red |
| Brown tempest |
| Bogatyr |
| Artichoke garlic |
| Creole |
| Silverskin |
| Hardneck garlic |
| Softneck garlic |
| Black garlic |
Garlic Chives Diseases & Remedies
| Problems | Remedies |
| Basal rot | Soil solarization by spreading polythene sheet and seed treatment with thiram |
| Botrytis rot | Seed and bulb treatment with fungicides |
| Downy mildew | Copper-based fungicides can help quell the spread, avoid extra fertilization, timely bulb sowing |
| Bacterial brown rot | Rapid drying of bulbs, |
| Leaf spot | Use fungicide or trash the plant |
| Rust | To prevent rust water from below |
| Thrips | Control thrips with sticky traps or diatomaceous earth |
| Pink rot | Soil solarization, fumigation, and rotation for three-six years |
| Onion fly | Insect row covers to keep the bugs away, |
| White rot | Seed treatment with thiram and seedling dip in carbendazim |
| Stemphyllum blight | Avoid excess fertilizers, use resistant varieties, and use fungicides |
| Purple blotch | Avoid excess nitrogenous fertilizers, use resistant varieties |
| Nutritional Constituents in Garlic chives | |
| Nutrients | % |
| Zinc | 10 |
| Vitamin A | <1 |
| Vitamin C | 52 |
| Protein | 1 |
| Vitamin K | 1.5 |
| Carbohydrate | 1 |
| Riboflavin | 8 |
| Pyridoxine | 95 |
| Copper | 33 |
| Phosphorous | 22 |
| Dietary fiber | 1 |
| Manganese | 73 |
| Selenium | 26 |
Pruning of garlic plant
- Pruning is essential for plants to keep them fresh and blooming more and early.
- Dividing plants keeps them healthy, lush, and fresh from year to year.
- You must have to chive plants and share some portion with friends or your family to grow in their garden.
- It’s straightforward to take a sharp shearer and dig out the plant section in a new location in your friend’s garden.
Growing garlic chives tips
There are some tips for growing garlic chives
- Garlic chives need full sun to partial afternoon shade
- Garlic chives are hardy perennials that survive winter even in an icy climate
- Crop rotation with the onion family
Garlic chives care and harvesting
- Harvest the garlic from established clumps
- Begin harvesting chives after 60 days of seeding
- Harvest the garlic when the plant begins to turn yellow or brown or begin to fall over
- Please don’t remove the tops of the garlic until it turns dry
- Harvest three-four times during the first year
- Care for garlic chives is direct water the plant as needed
- Garlic chive plants are drought tolerant and require moist soil
- Fertilize the garlic chives at the start of the growing season
- Hard-neck garlic should be pruned when the flowering stalks begin
- When garlic bulbs become dry, then you can store them for a year
The harvesting time for garlic chives is after 60 days of sowing throughout summer and winter are picking garlic times with care to avoid damage and bruising. Usually, the tastiest garlic varieties are Star bright and Chesnok, covered in the thick outer skin and fat cloves. Moreover, these garlic cloves are easy to store for a long time at 45-50 humidity levels. Chinese chives or leeks are tube-shaped, flat, blue-green blades and can be grown in grass-like clumps, but garlic chives are herbs with pretty flowers and have a garlic flavor.
Sowing garlic chives from seeds in March time in a pot is very easy with compost after the last frost of spring, and germination begins after 14 days of sowing.
Post harvesting
Harvest them carefully with the help of a sharp knife or shearer and keep them in a dry place. After harvesting, you can save the garlic bulbs in any form, fresh in the refrigerator, blanching cloves, and store those in an airtight jar for a long time, drying out cloves in sunlight or oven dry. After drying, keep them outside in a dry place. Moreover, dried cloves should also be ground, turned into powdered form, stored in a dry cupboard, and used in winters.
These are all post-harvesting techniques of garlic bulbs for a longer time, for more than ten-eleven months in a year. Moreover, people use garlic powder with the addition of dried mint and cumin, and fennel seeds for gastric issues
Garlic chives medicinal uses
| Uses | Health benefits |
| Lung cancer | Reduce blood clotting |
| Brain cancer | Provides a host of antioxidants |
| Hip osteoarthritis | Provides a host of antioxidants |
| Heart protection | Help beat rheumatoid |
| High cholesterol | Arthritis inflammation |
| High blood pressure | Lower cholesterol |
| Help quell inflammation | Support immune function |
| It gives better hair and skin | Alzheimer’s disease |
| Boost immunity | Protect against cell damage |
- Black garlic may reduce indicators of heart diseases, including levels in the blood of total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and triglycerides.
- Black garlic also increases HDL (good) cholesterol.
Garlic chives recipes
- Garlic chives can be chopped into small pieces and used as a garnish. Try them in compound butter or sprinkling soup.
- People enjoy garlic cloves that can be treated as vegetables- try stir-frying or stuffing them into dumplings.
- Some people eat raw garlic
- Garlic is also used to tender the meat, either mutton or beef
- Garlic is a seasoning agent, that dependably adds a delicious aroma
It can be used as
- Salad dressing
- Vinaigrettes
- Marinades
- Sauces
- Vegetables
- Meat
- Soups
- Stew
- Garlic butter
- Garlic toast
A common way to use garlic is to blanch the fresh garlic with a garlic press and mix it with extra virgin olive oil and a bit of salt.
Garlic Tea
People drink garlic tea, which is very healthy for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and cardiac diseases.
The recipe is like
- Take two-three garlic cloves to chop it finely to release allicin
- Bring one cup of water to boil in a saucepan
- Now, take the chopped cloves in a cup and add boiled water
- Stir it correctly add some mint leaves and lemon juice
- Just for the taste
Enjoy your garlic tea
Garlic yogurt sauce
- Take three garlic cloves to chop them finely
- Fill a bowl of yogurt, whisk it
- Take three tablespoons of milk cream to whisk it as well
- Grind the mint and parsley
- Take teaspoons of salt, powdered red chilies, and half a teaspoon of oregano
- Put garlic, yogurt, cream, chili, salt, mint, and parsley and spread oregano
- Mix them all finely and put them in the refrigerator
- Serve this garlic sauce with chicken steak and enjoy!
Mashed potatoes
- Take the potatoes, boil them and peel them and mash them with a potato masher properly
- Add three-four cloves of garlic after grinding them
- Add salt, black pepper, oregano, soy sauce, chili sauce, butter, and a few chunks of chicken
- Put butter on for an additional good taste
- Sprinkle parsley and mint
- Eat it when you are hungry!
Conclusion
Garlic is a slow-growing plant that takes six months or more to grow from planted cloves to full bulbs. Garlic bulbs should be broken into cloves and planted in pots for indoor growing. It takes some weeks for leaves and shoots to sprout from cloves in well-drained soil, with plenty of sunlight, moist soil for growth. A drainage hole at the bottom of the pot is necessary. Prepare garlic cloves that should be dry and hard with no sign of decay. Irrigate the pot whenever you feel the soil is dry; also apply fertilizer organic and inorganic. Harvesting of garlic cloves should be done when leaves turn yellow or brown. It also helps treat cancer, blood pressure, bones, diabetes, cardiac issues, skin, and hair. You should use organic fertilizers for the tremendous growth of garlic also. Epsom salt is best as organic fertilizer.
It would be best if you had to grow garlic quickly at home in a pot first, turn them into an enormous container, and let them rise until the maturation stage and harvesting and post-harvesting techniques. You can store garlic in any form fresh, dried, powdered, and green garlic, also used as garnishing in side dishes. Garlic is used in making white garlic sauce that can be served in pearl continental restaurants with chicken steaks and mostly in Chinese dishes. People living in China and Turkey eat garlic cloves raw and also stir-fried and enjoy the taste better for a long time. Nowadays, people make garlic bread and enjoy it in their everyday diet.
Related Articles