Plant Garlic This Fall for a Summer Harvest
Garlic is one of the easiest crops you can grow. Plant cloves before the ground freezes and they will be ready next summer.
When to plant
Plant garlic in autumn, two to six weeks before the ground freezes. Cloves grow roots before winter and shoot up quickly in spring. In mild climates, plant in late autumn or early winter.
How to plant
Break bulbs into cloves just before planting, keeping the papery skins on. Set each clove pointed end up, two inches deep and six inches apart, in loose soil enriched with compost. Cover with several inches of straw or leaf mulch.
Quick tips
- Use the largest cloves for the biggest bulbs
- Plant seed garlic, not supermarket bulbs
Spring care and harvest
Pull back thick mulch when shoots appear and water during dry spells. Hardneck types send up curly scapes in early summer; snip and eat them so energy goes to the bulb.
Harvest when the lower third of the leaves have browned. Cure bulbs somewhere dry and airy for two to three weeks before storing.
