Growing garlic is fairly easy – it’s literally a “plant and forget” crop, yet many gardeners are intimidated by learning how to plant garlic and avoid it completely. Today, we’ll discuss not only the basics of how to plant garlic, but also demystify some of the key factors in successful growing all the garlic of your gardening dreams!
Unlike most crops but like most alliums, garlic is latitude based, not so much based on hardiness zones.
This means that the day length (amount of sunlight per day) is just as important as weather conditions for you to grow your largest bulbs. Therefore in most regions, you will grow garlic at the end of your summer season (during the fall) and harvest at the end of upcoming summer. The hotter the region, the later in the season you can possibly start your garlic. Some regions in California, Texas, and Florida have successfully started garlic in the spring and reaped a harvest, but also seen a decrease in garlic bulb size. Before we cover the main areas where we gardeners make the most mistakes planting garlic, lets cover the basics first.
As mentioned above, garlic should be planted in the fall or (for warmer regions) early spring. Ideally 6-8 weeks prior to your first frost date. The reason is since garlic matures during the longest day of summer, you want your garlic to establish a good root system early. Planting garlic in the fall allows for a healthy root system to develop and your garlic to be one of the first things to sprout in the spring. Also, I must mention as well that garlic is a crop that requires some level of vernalization for bulb formation in the summer – the induction of a plant’s flowering process (or maturity) by exposure to the prolonged cold of winter, or by an artificial equivalent (we’ll talk more about this later).
Unlike different varieties of other vegetables, no matter what type of garlic you’re growing, you’ll typically grow it all the same way. Here are the basics:
Now that we’ve discuss the basics, lets talk about the unclear, intimidating aspect of growing garlic.
Like all things we grow, garlic has different varieties that vary in regards to taste, maturity time, appearance, size, etc. These varieties can be split into two types: hardneck and softneck. “Neck” refers to core that will grow a flower stalk (also known as garlic scape) from the center of the garlic bulb. During the warmer months, hardneck garlic will have a stalk that grows, flowers, and can be cut and used for culinary purposes. A lot of the plant’s energy goes into creating and maintaining this stalk so it’s best to remove it when you can.
Softneck garlic doesn’t grow a scape. The neck is soft, hence the name. Softneck have been reported to grow a flower stalk when distressed (damage at the neck of the plant etc). Because of this, many theorize that softneck garlic is an evolved version of hardneck which is not too hard to believe. Understanding softneck vs. hardneck garlic is important because each variety has a preference of conditions it would like to grow in – Northern (hardneck) or Southern (softneck) regions of USA. This the most major difference you want to consider when figuring out what variety to grow. The other difference are merely preference in taste etc. Have southerners successfully grown hardneck garlic and vice versa – YES – but it did take some manipulating such as vernalization as we mentioned earlier.
Here are some of the common differences noted by many between the two varieties:
| Hardneck | Softneck |
|---|---|
| More flavorful | Less flavor |
| Stores up to 5 months | Longer storage – 9-1 months |
| Fewer cloves | More cloves |
| Larger cloves | Smaller Cloves |
| Winter hardy | Best for warmer regions |
| Scape | No scape |
| More varieties – 100s | Roughly 30 different varieties |
| Not the best for braiding | Best variety for braiding and storage |
Other – then there’s elephant garlic. It’s technically in the leeks family, but grows, taste, and looks like large garlic – so it’s garlic. It does grow a scape and grows fine in any region. In warmer regions, it’s recommended to store your elephant garlic in the fridge a month before planting.
Learning how to plant garlic is understanding garlic takes so long to come to maturity, it makes sense that it is a heavy feeder. This means that it needs a continous amount of nutrients readily available to thrive. The best garlic harvests are the result of well fed and happy garlic. We typically make the following mistakes: not fertilizing at all or fertilizing at the wrong time with the wrong type of fertilizer. There are two times when you should be feeding your garlic and few types of fertilizers you can use for garlic crops.
Recommendations on how often to fertilize garlic and when to start ranges according to many, but there is some consistency across the board and from my experience here’s what I’ve found that works. The compost/organic matter amended in the soil pre-planting typically is nutrient dense enough to get your garlic through the fall and winter. In milder/warmer regions such as where I am located, it’s okay to add a nitrogen based fertilizer at planting. These regions may have foliage growth throughout the winter and nitrogen is one of the nutrients responsible for foliage growth. Whether you fertilized at planting or not, at the first sign of spring, you should definitely begin using a nitrogen based fertilizer to encourage once again foliage growth. Towards mid spring – roughly 3-4 months before your expected maturity date, you will stop fertilizing to prevent “top heavy” growth and stunted bulb growth.
Fertilizer can either come as dry or liquid and this effects how readily available it will be for plant uptake. Dry fertilizers come in the form typically granular or powder. This type of fertilizer can take up to 14 days to be available for the plant to use and provide a continuous supply of nutrients. Liquid fertilizer is immediately available for the plant and require application more often that dry fertilizers. Apply as often as instructed on your fertilizer. You can also use organic or synthetic fertilizer. The major difference is the source – organic is sourced from living things and/or Earth. Synthetic is manufactured from minerals. Not only are organic fertilizers are a better source of nutrients, you’ll find that the NPK (Nitrogen – Phosphorus – Potassium) ratio is lower in organic fertilizers thus decreasing the chance of burning your plants by ALOT.
Adding mulch after planting garlic is an underestimated step to a better garlic harvest. Mulch can be defined as a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. There are multiple benefits to why someone would use mulch, but in regards to garlic, mulch helps conserves moisture, supply weed control, and provide needed insulation. You’ll always want to use organic sources for mulching garlic due to the heaviness of inorganic mulch which could prevent the garlic shoots from emerging. Organic mulch can be chopped leaves, straw, hay, wood chips, and/or bark. This overlooked step is simple – add anywhere between 2-3 inches of mulch after planting your garlic and you’re done. Most organic mulch break down into organic matter (good for building soil biodiversity) in one growing season so no need to remove after harvest.
Summer has rolled around and you’re ready to harvest your garlic, easy right?! Well proper harvesting techniques play a good role in getting your best garlic as well. Harvesting too soon can result in garlic that doesn’t store well and have smaller cloves as well. Spruce has created a really good graphic on harvesting garlic.
Curing is process of allowing your garlic to dry in preparation for long-term storage. This process encourages the papery husk to develop on the outside of the bulb and is the key to better storage. Garlic straight from the garden is usable immediately, but doesn’t store for long (maybe a week or two). If you properly cure your garlic, it can last up 12 months (softneck variety lasts roughly a year, hardneck lasts a long as 5 maybe 6 months). You can choose to either hang your garlic or lay flat to dry. Softneck varieties have soft “necks” making it easier to braid and hang than their counterparts – hardneck garlic. You can still hang hardneck garlic individually if that’s your choice. Don’t group more that 8-10 bulbs together. Do not remove the leaves until after your garlic has cured. Be mindful to “cure” garlic in a dark, cool place for up to 3-4 weeks. Some garlic maybe ready at 2 weeks, but 3-4 weeks is always the safe amount. A good indicator as well is when the roots are dry and crispy to touch.
Once your garlic has cured, you can continue to store it as braided together and snip off bulbs needed or hanging. You’ll want to clean it up by trimming excess leaves off and trimming the roots down. Store in cool location with plenty of ventilation such as a mesh bag. Since garlic will sprout in the fridge, I like to store my garlic in a basket in my pantry.
Learning how to plant garlic is relatively easy when you know exactly what you should focus on. I hope this guide help bring clarity to growing garlic and encourage you to grow more of this culinary delicacy!
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View Comments
Hi Jas!
First of all, I would like to commend you on your projects and goals. I am writing an analysis of your online community for a college English essay. Would it be alright if I ask you some questions or just observe and quote some of the material on your site in my essay? I would greatly appreciate it.
Well, I'm an OWL ( C'mon, figure it out ) and I LOVE my first experience reading your site about GARLIC !
My mom used to plant garlic in Tucson. She was not an avid vegetable / food gardener but loved her flowering
plants, garlic among them, Of course, in Arizona, you can have citrus trees, too, and their flowers are SO fragrant
and lovely in your patio or yard.
I'm going to keep up with this site as I learned a few new things and am motivated to get going on my future GARLIC
plants. Thank you ! And mostly, thank you for being ambitious & smart enough to go ahead and start a place for yourself & others to learn & enjoy. How pathetic that human beings, maybe especially in the USA, still hold these
preconceived ideas about WHO is a gardener ! I live in Charlotte, NC & there are people here, too, who have been left behind in the 1850's. I wonder who they think cultivated 'the Old South ?'
Bravo, woman.
Thank you for your kind words!
Thanks for this primer on garlic growing. Though a steadfast gardener for more than 40 years, until last fall, I'd not dared attempt garlic. But with the market price of garlic, I figure the time had come. First crop worked out very well. With the additional tips you've noted, I've more confidence going into another garlic-raising fall, winter, and spring. BB in VA