Grow Garlic

Growing garlic is easy and inexpensive. This article will teach you how to grow garlic, including sourcing, cultivating, harvesting, and storing.

10 Second Summary

1. Break off some cloves from a fresh garlic head.
2. Plant the cloves, pointy-side-up 2 inches (5 centimeters) deep and 8 inches (20 centimeters) apart.
3. Cover the planted cloves with mulch.
4. Fertilize the cloves or top-dress with compost.
5. Water deeply once a week if rain has not fallen.
6. Reduce the watering gradually as the season warms up.
7. Harvest the bulbs when you can feel the individual cloves and the leaves turn yellow or brown.

Steps

Preparing to Grow Garlic

  1. Find out when to plant garlic in your region. In general, the best times for planting are mid-autumn or early spring.
    • Garlic grows well in a wide range of climates. It does less well in areas of high heat or humidity, or where there is a lot of rainfall.
  2. Choose a planting spot and prepare the soil. Garlic needs a lot of full sun, but it might tolerate partial shade provided it's not for very long during the day or growing season. The soil must be well dug over and crumbly. Sandy loam is best.
    • Before adding nutrients to your soil, you should know what is already there. If you haven't done a soil test, contact your local county extension office for a soil sampling kit.[1]
    • Ensure that the soil has good drainage. Clay-based soils are not good for planting garlic.
    • Use compost and manure to add nutrients to the soil before planting the garlic.
  3. Source fresh garlic. Garlic is grown by planting the cloves — called seeds for our purposes — so to get started all you need to do is buy fresh garlic. Choose garlic from a store, or even better, a farm stand or the local farmers market. It's very important that the garlic bulbs chosen are fresh and of high quality. If you can, choose organic garlic so that you avoid garlic that has been sprayed with chemicals.
    • Choose fresh garlic bulbs with large cloves. Avoid garlic that has become soft.
    • Each clove will sprout into a garlic plant, so keep that in mind when you're figuring out how many heads to buy.
    • If you have some garlic at home that has sprouted, that's great to use.
    • Nurseries also offer garlic bulbs for planting. Visit a nursery if you want to get a specific variety or to get advice on local conditions for garlic.
    • Mail-order catalogs and online seed stores offer many types of garlic and will include specific planting instructions for the type of seed you buy.

Planting the Garlic

  1. Break the cloves from a fresh garlic head. Be careful not to damage the cloves at their base, where they attach to the garlic plate. If the base is damaged, the garlic will not grow.
    • Plant the larger cloves. The smaller cloves take up just as much space in the planting bed, but they produce much smaller bulbs.
  2. Push each clove into the soil. Point the tips upward and plant the cloves about 2 inches (5cm) deep.
    • The cloves should be spaced about 8 inches (20cm) apart for best growing conditions.
  3. Cover the planted cloves with mulch. Suitable toppings include hay, dry leaves, straw, compost, well rotted manure, or well rotted grass clippings.
  4. Fertilize the cloves or top-dress with compost. The planted garlic needs a complete fertilizer at the time of planting.
    • Fertilize again in the spring if you are planting your garlic in the fall, or in the fall if you're planting it in the spring.

Caring for Garlic Plants

  1. Water the plants when necessary. Newly planted garlic needs to be kept moist to help the roots to develop. Don't overdo the water, however, as garlic does not grow well, or may even rot, if sodden during cold months.
    • Water deeply once a week if rain has not fallen. Watering garlic is not necessary unless there is a drought, in which case water sparingly, as garlic hates wet soil.
    • Reduce the watering gradually as the season warms up. The garlic needs a hot, dry summer to allow the bulbs to mature.
  2. Take care of pests. Insects, mice, and other creatures may come to eat the garlic or make a nest among the plants. Beware the following pests:
    • Aphids seem to enjoy garlic leaves, and the flower buds. They're easy to get rid of — simply rub your fingers over them and squash them or apply a
    • Many people tend to plant garlic underneath roses to deter aphids; the roses benefit from the aphids being drawn away.
    • Mice and other small creatures sometimes nest in mulch. If you have a problem with mice in your area, consider using plastic mulch or landscaping fabric.

Harvesting the Garlic

  1. Eat some scapes. As the garlic plants begin to grow, long green stalks called scapes will emerge. Pull off a few scapes and eat them if you wish. The best part of the scape is the young, tender shoot.
    • This may damage the garlic bulbs themselves, so don't do it to every plant.
    • Use gloves when pulling off scapes; otherwise your hands will smell of garlic for days.
  2. Note the signs of readiness for harvesting. Garlic bulbs are ready to be harvested when you can feel the individual cloves in the bulb, and the leaves turn yellow or brown.
    • Once the scapes start to dry, it is important to harvest the garlic or the head will "shatter" and divide into the individual cloves.
    • Begin harvesting at the end of the summer. Harvesting can continue well into autumn in most places.
    • Some warm climates may enable earlier harvesting of garlic.
  3. Loosen the area around each bulb with a shovel or garden fork. Pull the bulbs out of the ground. If using a fork, be careful not to stab the bulbs underground.
    • Be careful with the digging process, since garlic tends to bruise easily.
    • The plants should be kept complete and unwashed, and hung up to "cure" for two weeks. The ideal temperature is 80°F (26.7°C) for curing. Once cured, the outer flaky layers of the bulb can be brushed off, leaving clean skin below. Trim the tops and the roots, and store in a cool, dry place.
    • Washing garlic will prolong the curing process and potentially cause it to rot. Also, if the garlic is not cured, it will rot quickly in the pantry.

Storing Garlic

  1. Store garlic in a cool, dry place in your home. Dried bulbs can be kept in a garlic keeper (usually made from pottery), and individual cloves can be pulled off as needed.
  2. Make a garlic plait or braid. The dried leaves can be kept back and plaited or braided into a strand, from which you can hang the garlic bulbs in your pantry or kitchen. This is both decorative and useful.
  3. Store garlic in oil or vinegar. Garlic cloves can be kept in oil or vinegar. However, to avoid the potential for bacterial growth, keep in the refrigerator and consume quickly.
    • WARNING: Extreme care must be taken when preparing flavored oils with garlic or when storing garlic in oil. Do not store garlic in oil at room temperature. Garlic-in-oil mixtures stored at room temperature provide perfect conditions for producing botulism toxin (low acidity, no free oxygen in the oil, and warm temperatures). The same hazard exists for roasted garlic stored in oil.

Tips

  • Big cloves tend to equal big bulbs.
  • Save a bulb or two of garlic from this year's harvest to break into cloves and plant next fall.
  • For clay soil get sand, mix it in and plant the clove. It really works!
  • Garlic is very cold-hardy. You can plant it in the fall, leave it in the ground over the winter and harvest at the end of the next summer.
  • While it's perfectly all right to plant grocery store or farm stand garlic, you may want to try other varieties. Visit nurseries or nursery websites for many more options, including other colors.
  • If you harvest a garlic bulb that is small, don't be disappointed, you can use it to plant more!
  • Harvest when the lower leaves have browned and five or six green leaves remain. The latter will dry to form the papery sheath that protects the garlic and extends storage.

Warnings

  • Don't let the garlic dry out in the ground. This will cause the bulb to split.
  • Don't freeze garlic bulbs. They will turn to mush and be unsuitable for reuse.

Things You'll Need

  • Garlic cloves
  • Fertilizer, well rotted manure or compost
  • Hay, straw, well rotted grass clippings (mulch)
  • Watering equipment
  • Shovel or trowel for digging

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ https://extension.umaine.edu/publications/2286e/
  • Caroline Foley, Jill Nice and Marcus A. Webb, New Herb Bible, p. 51, (2001), ISBN 1-875-169-92-X – research source
  • Bay Books Gardening Library, Herbs for Your Garden, p. 50, (1992), ISBN 1-86378-028-9 – research source
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