‘I haven’t had to buy’

Garlic lovers, take note — one gardener has figured out how to keep his kitchen stocked with this cooking must-have essentially forever without spending another cent. The hack solves a common kitchen problem: store-bought garlic that spoils quickly or loses its flavor before you can use it all.

The scoop

In a TikTok video, creator Kaleb Wyse (@wyseguide) demonstrates his method for growing, curing, and storing garlic. 

@wyseguide

I love to grow garlic and it’s the grocery item I haven’t had to buy for 10 years! I just keep planting cloves each fall (which I’ll do soon) and harvesting the next summer!

♬ original sound – Kaleb Wyse

With a table full of garlic stalks spread out, Wyse explains: “After I harvest my garlic, I let it cure. So this has probably been curing for a little over a month now. Means it dries out completely; all the stalks completely dry out, the roots dry out, and the husk is totally dry.”

Once the outer layers are papery and the stems are dry, clip the bulbs clean and they can last for months — even through winter. Plus, you can take a few cloves from each bulb, replant them in the fall, and grow next year’s supply for free. “Each individual clove is going to become a whole head of garlic,” Wyse said.

To ready your next supply, just plant individual cloves in well-draining soil with the pointed ends up, about two inches deep and six inches apart. The plants grow over several months before their green tops start to brown — a sign it’s time to harvest.

How it’s helping

This simple cycle — plant, cure, repeat — saves gardeners both money and waste. Growing your own food means no more wilted produce in the back of the fridge or plastic packaging clogging up the trash. Growing your own garlic also guarantees pesticide-free produce, better flavor, and an endless supply. 

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Plus, gardening itself offers real health benefits, from stress relief to physical activity — all while reducing demand for mass-produced, globally shipped food. That, in turn, helps the environment by cutting down on planet-warming pollution generated in shipping.

What everyone’s saying

Viewers were quick to praise the hack’s simplicity and long-term payoff. 

“You have officially made me want to grow garlic!” one commenter said. Another suggested, “In Argentina, we braid our garlic (from the long stems) directly after harvest and hang it to cure and to storage. It doesn’t take extra space!”

As one fan of the hack put it best: “I haven’t had to buy garlic in over 10 years.”

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