Grow · field guide
When and How to Plant Garlic
Garlic is one of the easiest, most rewarding crops, and almost nobody plants it, because it goes in during fall when the garden is winding down. Get cloves in the ground before winter and you harvest fat homegrown bulbs the next summer with almost no work in between.
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Plant in fall, harvest next summer
Garlic needs a cold spell to form bulbs, so it is planted in fall and grows over winter. Aim to plant about 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes, roughly around your first fall frost, so roots establish before the cold sets in.
From planting to harvest is a long haul, about 240 days, but nearly all of it is hands-off. The planner schedules the fall planting date and the summer harvest for you.
How to plant it
Buy seed garlic from a seed seller, not a grocery store bulb, which may be treated to resist sprouting. Then:
- Break the bulb into individual cloves at planting time, not before.
- Plant each clove pointy end up, 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart.
- Use the biggest cloves. Big cloves make big bulbs; save the small ones for the kitchen.
- Mulch with a few inches of straw to protect roots over winter.
Hardneck or softneck?
Hardneck garlic suits cold climates. It sends up edible flower stalks called scapes in spring and makes fewer, larger cloves that are easy to peel. Softneck garlic suits milder climates, stores longer, and is the type you can braid. If your winters are cold, plant hardneck.
Harvest and cure
Harvest when the lower leaves turn brown but several green ones remain up top, usually early to midsummer. Dig, do not pull. Then cure the bulbs in a dry, airy, shaded spot for 2 to 3 weeks before storing. Set aside your biggest bulbs to replant in fall and the cycle pays for itself.
Keep going
Questions, answered straight
In fall, about 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes, near your first fall frost. The cold period is what triggers it to form bulbs, so spring planting gives poor results.
Plant cloves pointy end up, 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart. Use the largest cloves from each bulb for the biggest harvest.
It is risky. Store garlic may be a variety unsuited to your climate or treated to resist sprouting. Seed garlic from a seed seller grows far more reliably.
About 240 days from fall planting to summer harvest. Almost all of that is hands-off overwintering, so the effort is low for the reward.
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