Two Crops That Pay For Themselves Year After Year
(And that the deer and rabbits won’t touch!)
When people tell me they don’t have time to garden, I get it. Most of us are juggling work, kids, aging parents, and about 47 open browser tabs in our brains.
That’s exactly why I love growing onions and garlic.
They’re easy. They’re useful. They don’t need babysitting. And they quietly give you a lot of food for very little effort.
So, if you’ve ever thought, “Why would I grow onions and garlic when I can just buy them at the store?” — here are six reasons these two deserve a permanent spot in your garden.
If you want to make sure you can actually harvest what you grow…make sure you check out reason #6!
1. You Get Edible Harvests You Can’t Easily Buy
When you grow onions and garlic, you don’t just get the final bulbs. You also get:
Green garlic (young garlic plants before bulbs form)
Garlic scapes (the curly flower stalks from hardneck garlic)
Spring onions and green onions at different stages
Scapes, in particular, are extraordinarily rare in grocery stores. In fact, they’re so rare in general that when I searched for a stock image of “garlic scapes” to use in this post, my stock photo source didn’t have a non-AI image available. Apparently I’ll have to find a way to get pretty photos of my own this summer. I have found scapes at some CSA farm stores, but it’s hit or miss. I like growing my own because they are tender, mild, and amazing in stir-fries, eggs, soups, and pasta. I had so many last summer that I chopped them up and froze them. I’ve been adding them to meals a few tablespoons at a time during the dark days of winter as a reminder that the sun will return!
Scapes are my favorite bonus harvest. Yummmm….
2. Homegrown Really Does Taste Better
Store-bought garlic and onions are often months old by the time you buy them. That age impacts flavor and the nutritional content of all produce, including garlic and onions. On the other hand, homegrown bulbs:
Are firmer and tighter
Have more complex, aromatic flavor
Tend to be less harsh and sulfur-heavy
The difference in garlic is especially pronounced:
Store garlic = sharp, sometimes almost burning
Homegrown garlic = still strong, but smoother and more flavorful
Onions are more subtle, but still sweeter and fresher when homegrown.
Growing your own garlic also lets you match your garlic to your cooking preferences. Until I grew my own garlic, I had no idea that there could be so much flavor variation in those little bulbs. Some are spicier and more pungent while others are more mellow. Some become sweeter with baking, while others are mellow enough to use raw (and still be around other humans with functioning noses).
3. They’re the Base of Half Your Meals Anyway
The start of dinner most evenings at the Brewer household
Think about how many recipes start with:
“Chop an onion…”
“Add garlic…”
Pasta sauces. Stir-fries. Soups. Curries. Rice dishes. Roasted vegetables.
When you grow them, you always have the basics on hand - no more running to the store for something simple but critical. Plus, every time I start cooking with something I grew myself, the little cheerleader in my head says, “Look at you, Mama! You’re feeing your kids the very best - food from the garden! You are a rockstar!” That cheerleader is usually drowned out by my inner critic, who is much louder. So if I can do something that gets me feeling good about myself, I’ll do it as much as I can.
4. They Can Become Free, Year After Year
Garlic is especially magical this way.
Once you grow it you can:
Save some of your harvest
Replant cloves in the fall
Harvest again next summer
Repeat forever
Onions can be similar you can save seeds from flowering onion plants or replant from sets or starts.
Even if you’re growing in:
Raised beds
Containers
Small spaces
You’ll still cut down on what you buy at the store — and avoid paying farmers market prices for basics.
5. They’re Shockingly Easy (Which Makes It Fun)
[PHOTO: Garlic scapes curling in the garden]
These are two of the lowest-drama crops you can grow.
They:
Tolerate cold well
Rarely have serious pest issues
Don’t need daily attention
Grow quietly while you focus on everything else in life
And there’s something very satisfying about:
Pulling a full garlic bulb out of the ground
Snipping curly garlic scapes in early summer
Seeing tidy rows of upright green leaves
Big reward. Minimal fuss.
My favorite combination.
6. Critters Leave Them Alone
This one matters a lot in suburban Michigan. Nothing is more frustrating than spending an entire season growing gorgeous food - only to have the critters feast on it before you have a chance to pick it. Rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels, deer - they’re all just waiting for those tomatoes to ripen. But like picky children, they don’t want to eat raw onions or garlic. The smell is too strong (thanks to the sulfur compounds).
That means:
You can plant them outside fenced gardens
They work in front yards, side yards, and mixed flower beds
They don’t compete for your limited “inside the fence” space
If you’ve ever had to decide which crops deserve protection and which ones are basically deer snacks… these two don’t need protection.
All you need is some sunshine and some moderately loose soil (they can’t grow in compact clay) and you can grow onions and garlic. (Just make sure that if you spray your yard with any chemicals - which I NEVER encourage - that the onions and garlic are well away from the spray or drift zones.)
Want Help Figuring Out Where These Fit in Your Yard?
If you’re not sure:
Where to plant
How much to plant
Or how to build a garden that actually fits your time and space
That’s exactly what I help with through Healthy Backyard Gardens and Garden School programs here in Washtenaw County. Reach out and we’ll find the best solution for YOU.