When to plant garlic
Plant garlic bulbs in the shoulder seasons. Planting your cloves in the spring after the last frost or at the end of summer will give your garlic plenty of time to mature before the temperatures dip below freezing.
The ideal planting zone for growing garlic is in USDA zone 3 (-40 to -30°F / -40 to -34°C) and it prefers mild to cold temperatures. Too much heat will stress out the foliage so avoid growing in hot summers.
Garlic is fairly cold-resistant. Underground, garlic cloves can survive temperatures as low as -30°F. The garlic tops are also cold tolerant, though expect those green tops to die back once temperatures dip below -14°F.
Planting garlic
Separate the bulb into smaller cloves and plant the largest clove for the best results. Save the remaining bulbs for the kitchen and remember to compost the scraps.
Grow in nutrient-rich soil. nutrient-rich soil for your garlic. Compost and worm tea are excellent amendments for growing large garlic bulbs.
Standing water will cause the bulb to rot in the ground so if you are growing garlic in a container, make sure that the container has sufficient drainage holes.
When planting garlic cloves in soil, place them at least 2 – 3 inches below the soil’s surface with the clove’s pointed tip facing upward. In colder climates with harsh winters, plant the cloves deeper (4 – 6 inches deep). This will keep the maturing clove protected from excessive freezing and thawing which will cause severe damage.
Garlic crop care
When growing garlic plants for food, snip any flowering stalks that appear. This will extend the garlic’s growing period and give you larger bubs at harvest time.
Despite preferring colder weather, garlic plants also prefer full sun. In the spring and fall seasons, give your garlic plants as much sun as possible and the shoots will send that solar energy underground where it counts.
When watering new garlic cloves, keep the soil moist but never soggy. Once the plant matures, back off and water the soil deeply once a week. Garlic does not like wet to soggy soil. To avoid overwatering your garlic, do not pour water directly over the plant. Take a break from watering if the soil feels moist to the touch or assumes a chocolate cake color.
Allowing the topsoil to dry out will allow the bulbs to mature, so make a note to water this crop sparingly.
How long does garlic take to grow?
Garlic will take anywhere from 240 – 270 days to fully mature. You will know that garlic is ready to harvest when the lowest set of leaves begins to die off. Once you see these tell-tale signs, stop watering. This will encourage the formation of the garlic’s iconic paper skin which encases the bulb.
Allow the soil to dry out completely before your garlic harvest. If you are unlucky and it rains, give the plants a few weeks to dry out again before harvesting.
Preferably, you should grow multiple cloves at the same time to test if your garlic is ready by digging it up. Look to see that the mature bulb is fully wrapped in the iconic garlic skin and not split into individual cloves.
How to harvest garlic
Allow the soil to dry out completely before your garlic harvest. If you are unlucky and it rains, give the plants a few weeks to dry out again before harvesting.
DO NOT PULL GARLIC UP BY THE SHOOTS.
Use a gardening tool like a fork or a spade to loosen up the soil around the plants. Then use that tool to delicately lift the bulbs out of the soil and gently brush off the extra dirt. Bruised garlic does not store well, so harvesting it gently and your patience will be handsomely rewarded.
If you dig up one garlic clove and notice that it is not quite ready or that the bulb has shattered into many cloves, use whatever cloves you can for now and wait another week to harvest the rest of your crop.
How to cure garlic bulbs for storage
This curing process will enhance the garlic’s flavor and make it less prone to rot in storage.
- Brush off all traces of dirt from the bulbs
- trim and compost the long root ends
- Hang the bulbs in a sunny area with good airflow
- Leave the bulbs for 7 – 10 days to fully dry
- Once the roots and the paper skins are dry, the bulbs are ready for storage in the kitchen
If you’ve managed to harvest an abundance of garlic, consider braiding the bulbs together by the stems. Weave the stems together in a pattern similar to french braiding hair. You can even braid in various herbs and flowers as decorations to dry with the garlic.
Appropriately dried garlic will store for about six months to a year depending on the variety and storage conditions. For best results, store garlic bulbs at 35°F – 45°F.