Greek Olympians ate it before competing. Roman warriors ate it before battle. Egyptian pyramid builders lived on bread and garlic while constructing this massive building. In WW2 there are many accounts of the use of garlic, as a paste, when supplies of penicillin were gone. Today it is regarded as a SUPER FOOD. It is also a unique flavoring herb in many cultures. Garlic has the potential to be the most useful herb around. Lets take a look at this amazing herb and find out what it has tucked away in it's bulbs.
PLANT BASICS
Garlic is a member of the onion family growing from bulbs, where a single clove of a bulb can be replanted to produce an entirely new bulb. The plant is a winter hardy part shade loving plant. There are two types of garlic, hard neck (for colder climates) and soft neck (for warmer climates), to grow worldwide. Currently China is the largest producer of garlic in the world. If you decide to plant garlic, please use heirloom varieties due to the chemicals used on most commercial garlic.
It can be easily planted throughout your garden since it has a relatively shallow root system and can be grown symbiotically with many other vegetable varieties. Garlic does not take up a lot of room and will flourish if separated from other garlic plants. Rotate the plant's position throughout your garden every year for maximum soil benefit and to avoid possible routine growing area disease.
INVASIVENESS AND USES
Garlic can be a bit invasive unless you trim the flowers. The plant will seed itself and become a crop rather quickly. It can be held at by through area containment and harvesting. If the flower is cut before the seed matures, it will start to go into a regrowth period sucking extra nutrients from the soil and in about 3weeks will start sucking excess from the root to produce, the plant should be harvested then. This will ensure the best flavor and concentration of compounds.
Garlic can be used when cooking, for minor cuts and scrapes, for major cuts and scrapes, as an antibiotic, as an immune booster, as an anti-fungal, as an antimicrobial, as an antibacterial,
COMPOUNDS AND COMPONENTS
Sulfur compounds (act as a natural pesticide).
Oligosaccharides are prebiotics that are secreted in the colon by garlic.
Arginine-rich proteins are primarly helpful in RNA splicing.
Selenium, Allicin, Flavonoids are considered a prevention for cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease.
Manganese, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Selenium, Fiber, Calcium, Copper, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron and Vitamin B1.
Wild garlic is also extremely beneficial, in fact, the Association for the Protection and Research on European Medicinal Plants says that:
Allium ursinum has more substances than Allium sativum
Allium ursinum has active substances not found in Allium sativum
it is odourless
BENEFITS
The following are some of the direct health benefits of garlic:
Treats and prevents sickness and the common cold.
Reduces blood pressure.
Improves cholesterol levels in the blood which reduces heart disease.
Used a preventative for Alzheimer's and dementia.
Increases life expectancy.
Performance enhancing.
Detoxifies heavy metals from the body.
Improves bone health.
Reduced lung cancer rates.
Brain cancer treatment.
Treats and prevents osteoarthritis.
Garlic is used as a fairly powerful antibiotic.
Used as a treatment and cure for prostate and colon cancer.
Helps improve the damage to the liver caused by heavy drinking.
Helps prevent premature delivery.
The benefits above have all been substantiated by scientific studies. The power of garlic is unmatched, scientifically. I use garlic regularly as an addition to my insect spray to fight squash bugs. The garlic plant itself wards off all bugs, there are no known enemies of the growing garlic plant. Therefore by planting it throughout the garden, you will keep the bug populations down throughout the rows.
The beautiful part about planting it throughout is that you can harvest the following grow season, depending on when you plant, and during that time, your surrounding soil is quite protected.
ANIMAL USES
Dr. Deva Khalsa, a popular alternative veterinarian has stated:
Garlic is a miracle herb!
Garlic (Allium sativum) has been valued for thousands of years for medicinal purposes.
...reported adverse affects from garlic add up to a total non-event over the past 22 years… This proves beyond the >shadow of a doubt that the risk of using garlic is so infinitesimally low that it’s simply statistically insignificant. What
is significant is all the positive research delineating the medicinal powers of garlic.a natural antibioitic
it’s antifungal, antiviral and antibacterial effects can contribute to the healing process.
Garlic increases general immune activity
Uncooked garlic helps to lower blood triglycerides and cholesterol making it useful for certain breeds (Schnauzers >and Beagles) that are predisposed to this problem.
Compounds in garlic act as antioxidants and help flush toxins out.
garlic has been fed to dogs in order to help prevent flea infestation.
A host of studies provide evidence that the allicin in garlic works to inhibit cancer formation.
Well please up-vote and follow if you like my content. I will continue to post similar articles on plants, homegrown foods, gardening and homesteading ideas. Again thanks for dropping in. Remember that this is not medical advice nor do I prescribe anything to anyone. This post is for educational purposes only. Your body is your temple, treat it well. Have a great garden!
