Become a Garlic Growing Guru
Full Sun: 6 - 8 hours
.5-1 in / 1.3-2.5 cm of water per week
Plant 2 in / 5 cm deep
What Type | When to Plant | How to Plant | Care | Milestones to Harvest | Curing and Storage | Troubleshooting
Know Before You Grow - Essential Information You Need to Have a Shot at Success
Garlic! This incredibly beloved and versatile allium is a mouthwatering addition to more recipes than I could possibly count. Growing your own is likely easier than you think!
Timing: Garlic is a cool season crop and is most often planted in the fall and harvested in late spring / early summer the following year.
Difficulty: I would consider garlic an easy crop, fit for beginner and seasoned gardeners alike.
Essential Crop Info:
Two main varieties:
Soft neck which has great storage potential but a milder flavor
Hard neck generally has a more robust flavor but does not store as long
Orientation is Important!
When planting garlic, plant one clove at a time with the pointy end up (flat / root side down).
Garlic does exceptionally well in containers!
Setting up For Success - The basics of how to get a successful harvest
Grow the Right Type for Your Area
Garlic is a cool season crop, meaning it thrives in milder temperatures with hard neck varieties being the ones that will really struggle in warmer climates.
Hard neck varieties are best suited to grow in zones 1 – 6
Soft neck varieties are best suited to grow in zones 8 – 10
Both soft and hard neck varieties can easily be grown in zone 7
If you don’t know what zone you are located in, enter your zip code in the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map to find out.
When to plant
When to plant your garlic will depend on the type you are growing and your location. Most often, both types of garlic are planted in the fall, overwintered, and then harvested in late spring or early summer the following year. The goal is to time planting that will facilitate good root system development but minimal shoot growth before the coldest temperatures set in. Roots will grow as long as the ground isn’t frozen and the shoots will grow as long as temps are above 40°F / 4°C. Planting when the ground temperatures are 50°F / 10°C will be your best bet to accomplish this. For planning purposes, these are generally timeframes that work:
Zones 1 - 4 should plant hard neck varieties in late October or early November. Many use Halloween as a marker for this.
Zones 5 – 10 should plant in November or December.
Cheryl’s Take: Type and timing described above are considered ideal, not deal breakers. I myself live in zone 6 and grow both soft and hard neck varieties. Do the soft neck varieties grow as well as they might in a warmer zone? Probably not but I do just fine with them and many fellow gardeners do as well. So much of the fun of gardening is trying things out and maybe breaking a rule or two!
Regarding timing, I know that I said that the goal is to not get much shoot development before the winter sets in but what if you do? The reason you want to try and minimize shoot development before the winter is because rain and snow can settle into the center of the shoot and make its way into the core of the garlic. This creates a possibility of rotting out the plant. Notice that I said possibility though. There have been many years that I have had shoot development in the fall and still ended up with a pretty good harvest – all is not lost if you get some shoot development before winter. Carry on and keep your fingers crossed!
“Most often, both types of garlic are planted in the fall, overwintered, and then harvested in late spring or early summer the following year.”
How to Plant
Prep The Soil
Garlic is a heavy feeder!
Prep the soil with a high phosphorus fertilizer like Bone Meal at planting time.
Garlic is considered a heavy feeder meaning it will take a lot of nutrients from the soil and likely needs additional nutrients added throughout its growing season to live up to its full potential. Set them up right by adding a good 2 in / 5cm of compost to the planting area and then I generally recommend adding a high phosphorus fertilizer at planting time. A good organic option is Fish Bone meal. This will encourage strong root development.
Spacing, Depth, and Orientation
Plant individual cloves pointy end up about 4 - 8” apart
To plant garlic, separate the individual cloves from each other. Recommended spacing to plant each clove is generally 4” – 8” apart and about 2” deep root side down pointy side up. Although it can be tempting to try and plant closer together, crowding garlic will result in smaller bulb size (Because remember, I told you they are heavy feeders. They will rob nutrients from each other if they are growing too closely to each other). I usually space mine 6” apart.
The larger the clove you start with, the larger the resulting bulb. I always take the largest cloves for planting and just use the smaller ones in the kitchen.
Mulching
While it is a cool season crop, you will need to protect your garlic bulbs from freezing over the winter months. Applying a thick layer of mulch, about 6 inches deep, after planting will help them make it through the harsh winter months.
“Recommended spacing to plant each clove is generally 4” – 8” apart and about 2” deep root side down pointy side up. Add a 6” deep layer of mulch to help support plants through the winter”
Garlic is a great option for container growing! Make sure the plants have about 8 in / 20 cm of soil depth and follow all the same recommendations on fertilizing, spacing, and depth.
After You Plant
Overwintering
Garlic can survive temperatures as low as -30°F / -35°C so chances are very much in your favor that they will make it through the winter. This cold period, also called vernalization, is important to the bulb development. Without it, the bulbs won’t develop properly.
During this time, no need to provide any care in the form of water or nutrients to the plants. Just let them sleep. Good night sweet garlic!
Spring Emergence
In the spring, your garlic will likely be one of the first things to pop up in the garden which personally, just makes my gardening heart smile – The season has begun! It is at this point that you will want to pick up on your maintenance of the plants. You can also remove some of the mulch but leaving a 1 – 2 in / 2.5 – 5 cm layer will help prevent weeds throughout the season. This isn’t just about saving you time weeding either. Remember that they are heavy feeders. Weeds will compete for nutrients so keeping the area weed free will contribute to bigger bulbs. (Weeds can actually reduce the size of the bulbs by up to 50%!)
Watering and Fertilizing
As garden vegetables go, garlic has relatively low watering needs .5 - 1 in / 1.3 - 2.5 cm needed per week. To keep up with the nutrient needs though, you should pick up a fertilizing schedule of about every 3 weeks. At this point, you want to focus on leaf / shoot development so a high nitrogen fertilizer, like blood meal, is your best option.
Harvest and Storage
Milestones to harvest Top
One of the most asked questions about growing garlic is when to harvest. Come late May / early June, your plants are probably looking strong and healthy. The anticipation of what is going on below ground is just too much to handle so you are tempted…but patience my garlic grower!
When daylight reaches 13 or more hours a day AND air temperatures are above 68°F / 28°C, bulbs will start to form underground. At my latitude in Massachusetts, this is about April 7th. Bulbs will continue to form until temperatures reach about 91°F / 33°C.
Around mid-June, a flower stalk, called a scape, will start to grow from the center of the shoots of hard neck varieties.
Around mid-June, a flower stalk, called a scape, will start to grow from the center of the shoots of hard neck varieties. If left alone, this will develop into a flower which sounds great, but you will want to prevent that. Flowers take a lot of energy for a plant to produce. As the plant puts energy into the stalk and flower, the result will be a smaller bulb – up to 25% smaller! There’s good news though – garlic scapes are delicious! Pick the scapes once they curl up while they are still soft and you can use them in the kitchen anywhere you would normally use garlic!
At this point, you are about 3 weeks away from harvest. Don’t rush it though. The bulbs will nearly double in size in this last month so harvesting the bulbs even a week early can result in significantly smaller bulbs. Each papery layer of garlic is connected to one leaf and you need the outer layers to be dry in order for the bulbs to be able to store well. These dry layers actually corelate to dead, dying leaves.
You need to wait until about 1/3 – 1/2 of the leaves die off before you can harvest.
Harvesting before this will result in edible “green garlic” that will still taste delicious but not store for very long.
Harvesting after this will result in garlic cloves splitting away from each other which will also not store for very long.
Stop watering about 2 weeks before you plan to harvest. This will help set you up for better curing and storage of the bulbs. On harvest day, I know it can be tempting, but don’t just pull up on the stalks and expect the bulbs to come up easily. Remember all that effort you put into developing a strong root system and how deep you planted them? You will definitely risk breaking them if you just pull up (Trust me, I’ve done it and lost a few myself. Do as I say, not as I do!). Come in from the side with a shovel and push the soil around the bulb up so you can pull them out. Obviously, being careful not to pierce the bulbs.
Curing and Storage Top
Congratulation on your harvest! Your garlic is edible at any time so enjoy. If you grew more than you can use in the next couple of weeks though, your goal now is to dry the bulbs out as much as possible to maximize their storage potential. If cured and stored properly, garlic can last for 6 – 12 months depending on the variety.
To cure them for storage, lay them out in a shady spot or shed with the stalks still attached for about 2 weeks. Once the outer layers are dry and papery, you should be good to go. Cut the stalks off the hard neck varieties. For soft neck varieties, you have the option to braid them and hang to store. I typically do this since soft neck varieties generally store longer. I braid them and hang them out of the way until I work through my hard neck stash. Ideal storage conditions for garlic is about 40°F / 4°C in dry air. A refrigerator is too damp for this. Not everyone can create these ideal conditions so just do the best that you can and just know that they may not reach their full storage potential if conditions aren’t perfect.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Problem - Missed Your Planting Window
If you didn’t get your garlic planted in the fall, not all hope is lost. Garlic can be planted in the spring with a few caveats:
Opt for soft neck varieties. These don’t have quite the same needs for vernalization period as hard neck varieties do.
Create a minimal vernalization period by placing the bulbs in a refrigerator, or any other place under 40°F / 4°C, for 40 days before you plant them.
Get them in the ground as soon as possible. It won’t be too cold for them so as soon as you can work the soil, get the bulbs in.
Problem - Individual Cloves have Separated
As mentioned above, if you harvest your bulbs a little too late, the individual cloves can separate from each other and become exposed. No need to panic! Those cloves are completely edible, they just won’t store as long as others. Use in recipes within the next week or make Garlic On Demand and freeze for later use!
Pests and Disease
Garlic, like many alliums, is not bothered by pests or disease very often. This is not to say that they don’t exist. If you are experiencing symptoms of rot or decay, a good resource for identification and treatment is: Diseases and Pests of Garlic | Rasa Creek Farm.