How to grow Garlic?

Good Afternoon Permies,

It is that time of the year! I have just received my seed garlic and am going to get ready soon to plant the garlic. Probably not today because we are having a heat wave in NY causing all sorts of warnings.

This is my first year growing garlic, besides the basics on how to, do you have any suggestions that has given you success?

I'm planning on trying four different types to gauge how they do in my local climate and tweak from there.

i’d hold off for a while - even when i was in vermont, i’d usually put the garlic in in october. beyond that, they like it nice and rich and mine have done really well with good thick leaf-mulch.

Hi Timothy,
I'm jealous :), I don't have space to grow garlic this year. What has worked well for me is to loosen the soil down about 4 inches. Plant about 6 inches apart. Add about 2 inches of compost on top. Cover with organic straw. In Maine (USDA Zone 5a/4b) I plant early to mid October. I don't do anything else in the fall, but in the spring when they start coming up, I make sure to keep them well watered.

And keep up on weeding. Garlic (like a lot of root vegetables) don't like to have their roots disturbed, so picking the weeds early while they are small is important. I do cut off the scapes, which is supposed to increase the bulb size. I have never compared, but the scapes make good pesto or cheese, so I would probably cut them anyway.

Harvest them when the bottom 3 leaves have turned brown. Cure them in a shady place with good ventilation. And lastly... enjoy! :)

Thanks guys for the tips!

I am finding conflicting information on the internet, what is the best way to store the garlic for a month?

Some say that refrigeration will just encourage them to sprout, and leaving them on the table makes me believe that they will still sprout due to the heat.

I have a dirt basement that is pretty dry, maybe there?

Hi Timothy,
I don't know about "the best way", but I have stored them in a bowl on the counter for a couple years now (usually out of busy-ness than anything) and they generally last from when I harvest July-ish until October before they start sprouting on me. Your mileage may vary.

**Edit - they were cured, had the stems cut off about an inch or so above the bulb, and enough layers peeled off to look clean. Then I put them in a bowl with every intention of doing other things, and they always seem to sit way too long.

what’s the ambient temperature and humidity in the house? a bit of sprouting isn’t going to hurt much. i’d probably go with out of the fridge. for what it’s worth, i’m still working through last year’s garlic (harvested summer 2022), and some is sprouting but it’s probably all still plant-able. not that i’m going to.

One thing I've learned about garlic is that it is an amazingly heavy feeder. In the fall when I'm planting them, I amend the soil with plenty of compost and add alfalfa meal, which is supposed to decompose slowly, providing the garlic with nutrients, over the winter. I fertilize too, with an organic fertilizer.

Every source I can find says to plant garlic cloves near the end of October.  Not questioning that it's the best way, but what happens if I plant garlic now instead of 50 days from now?

I imagine the only difference will be taller leaf growth before the winter dormancy.  Is there something to do with photoperiod?  If it's too mature before winter will it divide into individual leaves from each clove?

I've got a ton divided & ready to go in the ground, the location for it has been cleared,  and if there's no real downside I'd like to get it going.  Otherwise, I'll just hang onto it until the "right" time.

Cy -
It is daylength that triggers garlic to bulb.  I'm not sure what would happen if you plant it "too early". I suspect that it may start to form bulbs before winter and the bulbs may get damaged by frost and then rot. I'm thinking there's a reason they want to bulb in the spring....
I live near Vancouver, WA and plant mine in early Oct., which seems to be just right for me.
Jen

Cy Cobb wrote:
I've got a ton divided & ready to go in the ground, the location for it has been cleared,  and if there's no real downside I'd like to get it going.  Otherwise, I'll just hang onto it until the "right" time.

For future reference, it is best to keep your bulbs intact and only seperate the cloves a day before planting. The bulbs store better when whole than when separated into cloves but since it’s not too long away from planting time, ought not to have too much of an adverse affect.

Another potential downside of planting too early is that the cloves could start growing too soon which can also lead to secondary shooting aka witches brooming.

Thanks for the tips.  I've had a hard time finding quality garlic this year, so when I found some pretty decent bulbs, I bought a bunch.  I kept them whole for awhile, but then I noticed a few individual cloves were starting to rot from damage.  To prevent the whole batch from going bad, I separated out the bad cloves, & inspected the rest as I separated them.  Good to know to keep them intact if they are in good shape though.  I'll do that with my harvest for sure.

but what happens if I plant garlic now instead of 50 days from now?

Maybe nothing, maybe you lose your garlic.

Generally speaking the idea is to plant early enough that the clove has enough time to put down a root system before going completely dormant for the winter. This gives them a head start in the spring. But you want it late enough that the leaves don't breach the surface, freeze and kill the plant.

Having said that I know someone who planted them a month and a half earlier than he should have. They came up, most survived the winter, and he harvested them the next summer. You are not supposed to plant early, I would not recommend it... but garlic is a tough little plant, and it might work too.

Cy Cobb wrote:  I kept them whole for awhile, but then I noticed a few individual cloves were starting to rot from damage.  To prevent the whole batch from going bad, I separated out the bad cloves, & inspected the rest as I separated them.  

In future, do be wary of any bulbs that are showing signs of rotting and avoid planting them.

The rotting could be due to either fungal or bacterial diseases and there is a risk of introducing the disease to your soil.

If it was a fungal disease, cracking the bulbs may release the spores and infect even the healthy garlic.

There may not be any obvious signs for a couple of seasons but all it takes is one year of adverse weather conditions for disease to ruin your entire crop.

That's why it is recommended to rotate your garlic (and all alliums) on a four year cycle if you have enough space.

The individual cloves that I removed from the bulbs were softening, & I could see on some that it was due to damage during handling (poked hole/bruised).  I can't say for certain there were no other factors than rough handling, but by removing the bad cloves when I did, it saved the rest of the cloves.  They are looking great since I didn't allow the rot to spread.  I feel like I did buy the garlic too soon, but I was worried I wouldn't be able to find it when planting time came around.  

I used to have a really good hard neck of unknown ancestry.  A friend gave me bulbils, & I started from there.  Fast forward a few years, & I moved.  The bulbils I'd saved weren't planted in time, & subsequently no good anymore.  So, I'm starting over now with a large amount of hardneck & softneck.  I've had garlic in the ground year 'round in the past with no ill effects, no rotting, etc.  I always raked the fall leaves over top, and they always had leaves going into winter, even poking through the snow at times.  Eventually they died back, but come spring, they'd always sprout again with no harm.  As far as bulbs dividing on their own, that would only happen after the 2nd year I'd think, as the first year (single clove) would grow the bulb, then the 2nd year, each clove of that bulb would leaf out individually.  

I've decided the garlic to be planted still looks like it can wait longer.  Still firm & not sprouting yet.  I've changed storage locations from a very dry area to a more naturalized humidity area, & am monitoring to see when it wants to grow.  At the first sign of sprouting, I will have it in the ground within a few days be it too early or not.  I realize I'm gambling, but I'm comfortable with the risk for the sake of my own education.  

Worst case scenario:  I lose $40 worth of garlic & a couple hours of planting time.
Best case scenario:  I harvest loads of garlic next July.
Most likely scenario:  I lose some over winter, but enough survive to replant in the proper annual cycle, have some bulbils to share, and attempt to try my hand at getting some True Garlic Seed from the hard-neck.

I had issues with too small bulbs from my first attempt at growing garlic. I believe I planted cloves too densely so I am planning on correcting that this year.  

I used to plant any garlic clove that began to sprout… anywhere in the garden, any time of year.  I got garlic here and there, and could find it by the scapes.  Of course I didn’t keep records or keep track of anything, so I do not know that they all sprouted.  But I always had garlic.

And another thought, I have seen garlic plants grow from the occasional clove that didn’t get harvested, and spent the late summer and early fall in situ.

My first year trying to grow garlic I planted some in a large container and kept it indoors over the winter.  It sprouted nicely but then languished and died.

Year two I planted bulbs around my young fruit trees' drip lines.  Most grew, but the bulbs I harvested were quite small.  I did no weeding except just prior to planting, and no fertilizing or watering.

Year three I got lazy busy and ended up planting my garlic in a large container/bed built into my deck.  It grew quite well, with minimal weeding and occasional watering when rain was scarce.  I harvested lovely scapes and made garlic scape powder, and ended up with a decent harvest of small to medium sized bulbs.

Year four:  Planted my garlic scattered around in a black walnut tree guild that I had top dressed with straw bedding cleaned out from the chicken coop several months before.  It grew well with no weeding or additional fertilizing.  I harvested more lovely scapes, chopped them and sauteed them in bacon drippings like green beans, and they were surprisingly delicious!  The bulbs I harvested earlier this year were consistently medium sized.  I cured them in our warm garage for a few weeks, then brought them inside and put them in a wire basket that sits on top of my refrigerator.  They tend to slowly dry out there, but right now I don't have a better place to keep them that is not too far away for cooking convenience.

This year's bulbs I recently received in the mail (late September) with an instruction sheet that said to plant mid to late October, and keep stored in the opened box away from bright light until time to plant.  Inside the box the bulbs are inside a paper bag that is not sealed or folded over.  So they get some air circulation, but no water or sun.  I've had bad luck with onion sets kept in my basement until planting time, so the garlic box is sitting in a darkish corner of my living room.  Every so often I talk to it as I pass by.  XD

Planting Garlic is a great way to end the growing season.  I have come to utilize with success Keene Organics methods to the T. https://keeneorganics.com/quick-growing-instruction/  

Much of their methods mirror what other contributors have already suggested.  

I've been growing garlic for a long time. I have created a perpetual elephant garlic pasture. It doesn't matter when you plant garlic because it just sleeps until its ready. It will start growing in the cool soil in late fall. I grow the elephant garlic the best. I planted it 26 years ago when I first bought my farm. I stuck the cloves upright in the ground in the pasture in rows where my tractor can bush hog beside them without hurting them in summer. No animals eat garlic so i don't worry. Not my percheron horses goats chickens wildlife or even the wild hogs. It comes up around December and I am in zone 7a- b. Then it grows right through the snow and is the only thing green in the winter pasture. Once spring comes it's got a big grey/blue pom pom flower. After that flower starts to fade by about the hottest day in July or August I dig it up and it's ready to dry. If you cut off the flower before it opens the scape is edible cooked.  I have not found that to make larger bulbs just harder to find them. The elephant garlic has occasionally bronze scales that fall off when you dig it and the garlic you miss or break off always comes back up next December.  You just wait each December for the clump of green in the brown winter dormant pasture and separate the clump into rows again each year. The flowers  seeds don't sprout. The elephant garlic can survive down to 10+ Fahrenheit before its foliage is damaged but once it warms up its recovered  just fine again. I don't work the soil or weed it because garlic does most growing in the isolation of winter.
The rocambole garlic and porcelain garlic are yet another matter. They just won't grow for me. I bought many varieties from all over Eurasia. A couple years ago they made it illegal for American citizens to purchase seeds from other countries due to a Chinese Mystery Seeds news story so I'm not able to  buy any more new unique varieties. I have so much elephant garlic I give it away by the pounds and it's my favorite anyway.
Garlic is so easy it will grow in the woods too. I planted alot in the woods for the bums to eat in the old days. It's still out there .The leaves fall off the trees and it gets sunny for it in winter. By mid summer its already dormant under the leaf canopy. It just needs dividing in  December.  Sorry so long.

It's time to prepare garlic beds for late fall/early winter planting. I have done some garlic planting in the past and will share my experience here. Since I was the only gardener and had a lot of other work to do, I prepared my garlic bed in very early October. I live on the south coast of Mass, winter finds us later than say, Vermont. I hand weeded any perennial weeds, tilled the soil, added fertilizers and tilled again.

On the "fertilizer" list, I added Azomite, minerals from A-Z. I have done a lot of research on planting garlic and NOFA/MASS (organic growers) farmers have done experiments with/without Azomite. The garlic planted with Azomite were larger than those without. That was enough for me to find Azomite!

My two friends came to help plant the garlic in one area. They were supposed to come right after noontime. But they showed up at about 4 PM. So, we were pressed for time! After planting, I mulched with straw and covered with row cover.

A second area was roto-tilled DURING THE FULL MOON AT NIGHT. I added fertilizer and Azomite and tilled again. My neighbors thought I was out of my mind, tilling at night. But there was going to be a hard freeze and I had to get this done! I didn't have enough straw to mulch this bed, so I covered it with row cover and crossed my fingers.

Spring come, the garlic started to bend under the row covers, so off they came. I was so amazed to see NO WEEDS at all in the garlic bed that was tilled during the full moon!  The garlic with the straw mulch (that was tilled during the daytime) had weeds! Of course, they were easy to pull with the straw mulch, but still! No weeds in the full moon tilled bed? I was totally amazed!

In early-mid May, every garlic plant got 1 Tablespoon of blood meal. That was it for fertilizing. In late August-early September, I pulled the garlic. The fists were very large, much larger than what is sold at stores.

There are many varieties of garlic...stiff neck vs. soft neck. Learning about the different varieties is an education! However, soft neck garlic can be braided and will keep nicely in braids.

Stiff neck garlic doesn't keep as long as soft neck garlic. At least that's been my experience.

It is important to pull the garlic when it has been dry for a few days. Less dirt on the outside skin makes easier cleaning. If you pull right after a rain, mud will stick to the garlic bulbs and they don't dry as well.

This is just my two cents on growing garlic.

I'll be putting in my garlic beds at the end of the month (6a). This will be the first time planting at the new location.
I will be using two of those stock tanks you typically find at feed stores again this year.



This has worked pretty well for me except that the soil can hold too much water. I will be cutting the soil this year with some of the local sandy loam and see how that goes.
Last year I planted a few cloves in a large clay pot. That did not work as well.



The plants grew beautifully, but the heads were rather small. I saved a few of the small heads and will try planting the entire small head in a different container this year as an experiment.
Moving from 9a to 6a in about two weeks. After gardening in 9a for 10 years, I have to start over again and learn how the new climate works.
I'm always up for a new adventure!

@Donna Lynn, those are some really nice deck beds!