This might feel a bit strange as a post but there are a couple of factors to consider.
First and foremost there is the question that tortures all gardeners: How far can I go to help my vegetables grow healthy and still consider them free of the nasty stuff that big productions use?
Personaly I am a big advocate of purely organic vegetable growing, in most cases I avoid using even liquid feeds, that’s how far I tend to go! The trouble is that where I live the soil is very poor and even though the months that there’s no garlic on the ground I grow Green Manure, there’s still not enough minerals to help my garlics grow big and healthy. Therefore, when it comes to garlic the line is drawn after minerals are used.
Why use fertilisers though, surely there’s things you can do to prepare the soil with enough nutrients?
Garlic is a low maintenance plant, all it needs is some water when it’s exhaustively dry. Unfortunately though, it stays in the same position for almost 9 months continuously. Thus, garlic bulbs inevitably will absorb all the nutrients existing around their planting position within a few months. I’ve made peace with the decision that this one will be getting some minerals every so often, so should you.
How frequently does garlic need some minerals to help it thrive?
This is an easy one, it’ll be on the box of whatever product you choose to go for but rule of thumb is about every 6 weeks up to just before watering stops.
Any product suggestions?
This is up to you. I’ve gone for a mainstream product that I can find at a decent price but as long as they are localy produced you should have a good mix in your hands. Please avoid places like eBay for sub-par and mis-advertised products are frequently the norm. Remember that what goes on the soil will end up in your tummy 🙂