ecofriendly gardening Archives - Wildwood Outdoor Living Centre

Top 5 Reasons To Grow Garlic

by Wildwood Outdoor Living | Oct 15, 2021 | Top 5 in The Garden

If you ask someone who grows garlic, they’ll tell you that garlic is one of the greatest gifts you can pull from your garden. Not only are they incredibly easy to grow but they multiply and store extremely well, giving you unlimited garlic year after year. Why would someone want unlimited tasty, health benefiting, organic, garlic? We thought you might ask. Here are the top 5 reasons you might want to consider growing garlic this season, before it’s too late.

1.) Garlic is Medicine

Throughout history garlic has been famously used to fight and prevent illnesses. When crushed, chopped or chewed it’s able to release many healing properties including Sulfur, Allicin and A-allyl cysteine (1). Low in calorie, garlic is also a strong source of vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Selenium and Manganese (2).

Where Garlic Can Heal

Used as a topical rub it can be used to treat fungus, bug bites and warts. When eaten raw it prevents and reduces colds by boosting immunity. As an oil extract, garlic can reduce inflamed joints and muscles by massaging the treated area. As a supplement in any form, garlic has been known to cure lung infections, blood pressure and more. More importantly, homegrown garlic has been proven to have higher levels of Allicin which produces all the health benefiting properties in garlic.

2.) Homegrown Garlic Is Better Than Store Bought

It’s not often, if ever at all that you walk into a grocery store with isles of garlic to choose from. In most grocery stores, you get to choose from jarred garlic or a single selection of garlic bulbs. When you stop to think about how many different types of recipes require garlic, you might want to shop for the best one for your dish. Each variety of garlic offers it’s own flavor profile to keep your recipes from all tasting the same.

Garlic Scapes

Not to mention garlic scapes! As pictured above, the garlic scape is a delicious stem that looks similar to a long bean. With an asparagus texture and scallion flavor, garlic scapes are produced from hardneck garlic. You can cook garlic scapes in recipes, on it’s own or eat raw. Garlic growers world wide choose hardneck garlic for their delicious garlic scapes, which you just don’t get in the store.

Garlic Varieties

Name:	Flavor:	Per bulb:	Size:	Use:	Notes:
Bogatyr	Strong, Fiery	5-7 Cloves	Large	Sautéing, Roasting	Strong, long-lasting heat. One of the hottest hardneck varieties
Duganski	Strong, Fiery	7-10 Cloves	Large	Tomato Sauces, Hearty Soups, Slow Cooker Chilli	Fiery flavor that mellows out to a rich garlic aftertaste
German Red	Strong, Spicy	5-7 Cloves	Large	Garlic Rich Dishes, Mashed Potatoes, Roasted	Great full-bodied and long-lasting flavor. Stores very well
German White	Strong, Robust	5-7 Cloves	Medium	Pesto, Sautéed Vegetables, Sauces, Marinades	Great for roasting. Stores very well. Grows great in northern locations
Legacy	Medium, Strong	7-12 Cloves	Medium	Raw, Curries, Pickled, Dried	Great flavor. Easy to peel. Cold hardy.
Metechi	Strong, Hot	5-7 Cloves	Large	Raw, Salads, Dressings	Cold Hardy, vigorous grower and long lasting in storage.
Mexican	Rich, Medium	8-16 Cloves	Small, Medium	Baked, raw, salads, salsa	Milder flavor when baked. Colorful.
Music	Medium, Strong	4-7 Cloves	Large	Roasted, Caramelized, gamey meats, vinaigrettes, infused oil	Cold hardy. Very hot when eaten raw. Great for roasting.
Siberian	Strong, Hot	5-9 Cloves	Large	Greek marinades, mashed potatoes, cream sauce	Mild flavor when stored. Great for roasting/cooking
Spanish Roja	Rich, Spicy	8-9 Cloves	Medium	Cold pasta, salsa, salad dressing	Rich complex flavor, long-lasting taste. Excellent for cold climates.

3.) Garlic Is Easy To Grow

After a beautiful summer of gardening, you can clean up your garden beds and leave them empty until spring or you can keep planting! Garlic is one of the best ways to use space in your garden that isn’t going to be used over the winter. They’re a great fall bulb that you can plant four weeks before the ground freezes. They don’t take up much space and they’re ready to harvest late spring/early summer!

How To Plant Garlic:

1.) Break bulbs into individual cloves. Make sure cloves are hard and solid. Plant larger cloves as they will produce larger bulbs – you can use the smaller cloves for dinner!

2.) Plant root plate end down, 3 inches deep, in well-drained soil.

3.) Add organic matter/ manure or mulch on top. Raised beds are recommended, as soil should be well draining. Spacing of at least 5 inches on 1-foot rows will provide adequate sunshine, any extra spacing will allow bulbs to grow larger.

4.) Keep soil moist.

4.) Garlic Is Best Fermented

Fermented garlic (also known as black garlic) is the process of storing your garlic with herbs, salt and water in a cold place for an extended amount of time. Because garlic is a perennial that multiplies, you can expect to have a lot of it. Fermenting garlic is not only a great way to use all your garlic without any waste, but it’s also delicious and healthy! Studies show that fermenting garlic creates enhanced bioactivity, which allows us to function better. Black garlic benefits many different functions in our bodies such as; Antioxidation, Antiallergic, Antidiabetic, Anti-inflammation, Anticarcinogenic (3).

How to Make Black Garlic:

1.) Peel as many garlic cloves as you wish to store.

2.) Fill your mason jar with the peeled cloves. Leaving 1 inch space at the top.

3.) Create your brine by adding water, 2 tablespoons salt and any additional herbs of your choice (fresh oregano, basil, pepper or pickling spice).

4.) Store your garlic in a cool, dark place for 3-6 weeks. TIP: Opening the jars once a day is a method called “burping” used to get rid of carbon dioxide.

5.) Once completed, store in the fridge! The longer the fermentation the better the taste!

Once ready, you can use your Black garlic to add to soups, dips, marinades, dressings, to treat ailments and more!

5.) It’s Hard To Get Organic Garlic

How well do you know your average grocery store garlic? Do you know where it comes from? Or, how it got there? For most, it’s just cheap and easy to get. The organic conscious consumer might be surprised to learn that over 90% of garlic is produced in China (4). Meaning that getting garlic into our grocery stores isn’t only environmentally harmful, but it’s also costly. This has lead to the price of garlic increasing substantially.

Careful of Bleach

Back to our organic conscious consumer, garlic isn’t as bright white and perfect as you might think. Unlike what you’ll find in a grocery store, garlic is naturally very spotty and marked. Yet, it’s picture perfect appearance is achieved by using a toxic bleaching technique used to extend shelf life. Unfortunately, even when indicated that it is “organic” chances are that it is not which only takes a quick trip to Dr. Google to learn more about (5).

What Do You Think?

Ask anyone who grows garlic and they’ll tell you it’s healthier, it’s easy, it tastes better and it’s addictive! At Wildwood Outdoor Living Centre, we have over 40 years of garlic experience. Need help choosing the right variety or have questions? Reach out to us any time, we’re happy to help you grow!

(1) https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-proven-health-benefits-of-garlic#TOC_TITLE_HDR_3
(2) https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ingredient-focus-garlic
(3) https://www.webmd.com/diet/fermented-garlic-health-benefits#1
(4) https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-something-that-stinks-high-garlic-prices-11582196400
(5) https://www.google.com/search?q=bleached+garlic&oq=bleached+garlic&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i512l2j0i22i30l2j0i390.7903j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Sustainable Gardening 101

by Wildwood Outdoor Living | Aug 11, 2021 | Gardening 101

If you haven’t heard of sustainable gardening, or if you have and you’re looking for ways to implement eco-friendly changes to your garden, we’re here to help! In this article we will discuss what sustainable gardening is, why it is important, how you can make changes at home and how we can help.

What is sustainable gardening?

Sustainable Gardening is an organic method of gardening that deters the use of products that harm the environment. These products include chemicals like pesticides and unnatural fertilizers, gardening tools that use power or gas tools and the use of plastic or new material products. Unfortunately for us, some of our unsafe household products come with warning labels that are too small to notice or read clearly. Allowing us to use them without knowing the harm that they can have on our health and environment. Let’s take a closer look at some of the products you might want to reconsider if you’re trying to create a more sustainable garden.

Pesticides & Herbicides

Pesticides are chemicals created by humans as a tool to remove unwanted guests (weeds, insects, fungi…etc.) from our gardens and crops. Used largely in farming for produce, pesticides are also used at home. Although seemingly harmless, pesticides have been proven to have extreme negative impacts on our health and wellbeing, as well as the planets.

For our health, the use of pesticides can lead to organ damage, reproductive issues, cancer, vomiting, headaches and more. For our environment, we see the damages created by pesticides in our air, water, and soil by affecting the micro-organisms that live in these ecosystems. As a result, this has largely impacted the health and population of many wildlife species. For some birds, consumption of insects poisoned by pesticides has affected their reproductive organs by producing weak eggshells that get crushed when nesting. Pesticides have also affected the population of many bird species by killing the insects needed to feed these birds.

What this information and research has allowed us to do, is to identify where we can make changes for the better in our gardens, by making them more sustainable for the planet and ourselves. To reduce the use of chemicals in your garden, create a sustainable compost to feed your plants and shop for products that are organic. At Wildwood Outdoor Living, we offer a huge variety of organic alternatives to help make your garden more sustainable. Here are a few of our favorite organic products, to help you grow a sustainable garden at home.

Garden Tools

Picture yourself in your garden, enjoying the sun and the plants. Everything is healthy and growing. It’s not often we look at our garden and notice all the plastic waste that we might have created along the way. If you look again, you might notice plastic netting, string, pots, garden tools, labels, and packaging. In sustainable gardening, we want to identify the ways we can reduce our carbon footprint by reducing waste. Let’s look at how we can reduce waste in our garden, allowing us to do our part as gardeners to clean up the planet.

Netting/String – Using plastic netting or string in your garden can be lethal to many animals including deer and birds. These plastics are non-recyclable and often end up in landfills that spill into the ocean trapping whales and other marine life. A sustainable gardening alternative to using plastic netting and string, is twine. Twine is made from renewable resources like cotton, hemp and jute and is biodegradable, making this a perfect sustainable gardening alternative to plastic netting and string.

Potting – Often when we purchase our plants, they come in a plastic container. From that container, we replant them into a small pot and then continue to replant them into larger pots as they grow. If you’re using plastic pots, that’s three or more plastic containers for just one plant. As an alternative to plastic pots and containers, try using biodegradable ones! Biodegradable pots are a leader in sustainable gardening, as they are completely composed of organic materials and are also fully biodegradable.

Labels – This is one of the easiest ways to make your garden sustainable and often the first practice to put in place for beginners. Let’s consider how many plants we have in our garden. Now, of that total, how many of those plants have a label? How many of those labels are going in the garbage when the season is over? That amount of waste can be reduced by using popsicle sticks or rocks as labels to mark your beautiful plants, making them 100% sustainable.

Garden Tools – When purchasing garden tools, try to purchase tools that are made from recycled materials, have no plastic accessories or that are good quality, to ensure a one time purchase. Sustainable alternatives to plastic garden tools are tools made from recycled metal and wood. If you can’t find the sustainable alternative for the tool you need, try asking a neighbor to borrow one!

Not only can the use of chemicals and plastic waste pose serious health risks to ourselves and our planet, but it also introduces chemicals to our plants health and taste. By making your gardens more sustainable and organic, you’re not only improving your health, helping our wildlife friends, and decreasing your carbon footprint but you can also expect healthier chemical free plants!

As gardeners, our planet needs us to do our part and help where we can. Sustainable gardening is a growing method of gardening which fosters unlimited options and creative ideas to keep our green thumbs growing. Stay tuned for more sustainable gardening tips and tricks from Wildwood Outdoor Living Centre.

Have a suggestion or question?

Let us know at info@wildwoodoutdoorliving.com.