Everything to Know About Growing Garlic

Garlic is one of the most rewarding crops to grow, even for beginners. There are some things to know if you want incredible harvests, though. Some garlic needs a cold winter, and some need scapes removed. Others can produce cloves the size of your hand! Here’s advice on growing garlic, including recommended varieties and how to grow, harvest, and store it.

One of the easiest crops to grow in the garden is garlic (Allium sativum). It’s hardy, suffers few pests, and will reward you with dozens of bulbs around mid-summer. Besides keeping weeds at bay, it needs little aftercare once you plant it. Then, around six months later, you lift them, dry them out, and use them in cooking over the next three to nine months.

Garlic is also a great investment in garden space since you can get a fantastic harvest from relatively small beds. It’s a staple in my vegetable garden and relatively fuss-free, meaning you plant and harvest it with very little work in between. Another great thing about garlic is that you can save it to plant again. That means that once you invest in quality garlic suited to your region, you’ll never have to buy garlic again!

Plant Garlic in Autumn

Garlic loves a sunny spot with rich, moisture-retentive soil. It prefers a soil pH of about 6-7 and will reward you if you spend some time adding fertility beforehand. You can do this by top-dressing the soil with a layer of compost in a no-dig style – this is what I do. You can also work organic fertilizer into the soil, such as blood meal, and break up heavy clay soil before planting.

Most garlic needs around six to eight months to mature, which is around the end of June to July. That means if you plant your garlic in spring, it might not have as much time to grow and fill out as it would have if you plant in autumn. This applies to both softneck and hardneck varieties, though some softneck varieties need less time to develop and can be planted in very early spring.

However, the best time to plant garlic is late September to November, at least a month before your region’s first frost. Most people who have been growing garlic for years, including me, plant garlic in October, and that goes for a wide range of growing zones! If you get them in during autumn, you can often see garlic shoots and leaves before Christmas. Softneck varieties take their time for me, and I don’t expect growth until January, no matter when I planted them the previous autumn.

How to Plant Garlic

If you order new garlic, it will arrive in bulbs; don’t separate them into cloves until you’re ready to plant. When you are, gently break the bulbs into individual cloves and plant them directly in the soil about 6-12 inches apart. Rows should be 12″ apart for easier weeding and tending, and in full sun. Also, know that the more space you give garlic, the larger the final bulb will likely be. Also, each clove should have a bit of the original bulb’s base still attached. Without it, the clove won’t grow.

Plant each clove with the pointy end sticking up. You can plant the pointy end so it sticks up through the soil. However, I think it’s better to plant the cloves fully, and I tend to plant mine an inch deep in the soil here in my temperate zone 8 garden. If your garden is in a colder climate, you can plant them up to four inches deep.

The deeper you plant the garlic, the better protected it will be from animals and freezing weather. Birds are hungrier in winter and notorious for pulling out garlic and onion sets, hoping they’re worms. If birds keep getting to your garlic, there are humane ways to keep them out of the garden.

After planting, keep the area where the cloves are moist, and you may see green shoots sprout in as little as a few weeks. Some garlic varieties need much longer to show any signs of green, though. Garlic shoots look delicate at first, but they’re pretty tough and can handle wet, windy, cold conditions, including snow.

Garlic grows in most soil types, but it needs to be well-drained, and it won’t grow well if the soil stays too wet. If you’re worried about your boggy garden during winter, you can also plant garlic in modules.

Planting Garlic in Pots or Modules

Though I tend to direct-sow my garlic into beds, I sometimes plant it in modules to overwinter someplace more protected. If you expect a lot of winter rain and your garden is getting waterlogged, it might be a good idea for you, too. Planting garlic in modules is also a good way for people in very cold winters to grow softneck garlic without worrying about freezing ground and snow. You can plant the garlic and grow it someplace that you know will be frost-free.

To grow garlic in modules, fill 2″ pots or modules with an organic multi-purpose potting mix. Plant one clove in each pot or module so the tip sits just below the surface of the potting mix. Keep moist and leave to grow through the winter in a sunny place outdoors. This could be a cold greenhouse, a cold frame, your patio, or a spot against a wall outside your house.

Plant the small garlic plants 6-12″ apart in the garden in early spring. By then, I’ll notice them starting to grow again, and when I lift them out of the modules, their root systems are bright, branching, and looking for more space to grow. Plant them at the same level that they’re growing at. Firm them in afterward by pressing the soil with your fingers.

Tending Garlic in the Garden

Once the garlic is planted, it’s easy to care for. I do very little for my plants while they grow, except make sure weeds aren’t growing in my patch. I also make sure the soil they’re growing in stays moist. This means mulching the top of the soil with compost and soil.

Most animals and birds will steer clear of garlic, so you shouldn’t have too many issues with them. The only real disease that I’ve seen them come down with is ‘rust,’ a fungal infection that looks like rusty mottling on the leaves. It doesn’t hurt the bulb though, so if you’re close to harvest time, don’t be too concerned. If you spot it earlier in the season, though, it can be a problem. Snip off the leaves as soon as you see it, and dispose of them rather than adding them to your compost heap.

• Plant garlic in free-draining soil with plenty of direct sunlight
• The soil doesn’t need to be rich in nitrogen at first. Mulch is really important only when the garlic begins taking off in spring.
• Mulch around your plants with straw, mushroom compost, composted manure, or garden compost. It helps keep the soil underneath rich and moist, and free of weeds.
• Hardneck garlic will form scapes in summer, up to a month before it’s time to harvest. Pick the scapes off and add them to meals. Doing this ensures a better harvest of garlic.

Softneck vs. Hardneck Garlic

Garlic has two main types: ‘Softneck’ and ‘Hardneck.’ They’ll both form delicious garlic cloves, and many gardeners can grow both types. However, they differ in how you grow and care for them, and some prefer one over the other.

The most obvious difference between them is that softneck garlic grows a soft neck that braids easily. Hardneck garlic grows scapes with hard stems that come up through the garlic leaves. These flower stems form a hard neck that is difficult to braid. Let’s look at their differences and how to grow them.

Growing Softneck Garlic

Many temperate-climate gardeners grow softneck varieties since they’re easy to grow, produce more cloves, and store very well. They also don’t form garlic scapes, which you must prune off. Another bonus is that you can plant it outdoors in autumn, winter, or early spring since it tends not to need a cold period to begin growing bulbs. That means if you’re running late getting your garlic in autumn, you still have time to plant it at the beginning of the growing year.

Softneck garlic stores very well, and it’s not uncommon for me to have last year’s garlic harvest last until late spring the next year. I store it both hung up and loose in containers, in a dry place at a cool room temperature. Softneck garlic’s dried necks are soft, pliable, and easy to braid. The garlic you see in the supermarket or hanging in ornamental braids is almost always softneck.

Softneck Garlic Varieties

• Silver White
• Sicilian Artichoke
• Nootka Rose
• Picardy Wight (UK)
• Germidour (UK)

Growing Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck varieties literally have a hard neck. This neck sprouts a garlic scape (flower stalk) around a month before the garlic is ready to harvest. Cut them off when you see them, since leaving scapes on can weaken the plant and reduce bulb size.

Fortunately, garlic scapes are tasty and can be used in cooking! You can chop them up and use them like any other garlicky green, or blend them with butter and freeze them for later in the year. If you do leave the scape on, it will eventually transform into bulbils, tiny edible garlic cloves. Not a bad thing, but the cloves will be small, too.

Hardneck varieties have fewer cloves than softneck, but they can be bigger. Some chefs also say they have a more complex flavor. If you’re growing garlic, hardneck is hardier than softneck, so it’s better suited for cold climates. That’s why hardneck garlic is so popular in places with cold winter temperatures, such as Canada and northern parts of the USA.

Hardneck garlic also needs 4-6 weeks of cold temperatures (under 5⁰C /40⁰F) to start growing bulbs. Without that cold, your heads of garlic may be small or not split into individual cloves. You can trick hardneck garlic into thinking it’s been through a cold winter with a little vacation in the fridge. Keep garlic chilled for a month before planting, and it will grow and produce beautifully.

Hardneck Garlic Varieties

• Chesnok Red
• Music
• Rose Wight (UK)
• Caulk Wight (UK)

Growing Elephant Garlic

Aside from softneck and hardneck, you can also grow elephant garlic allium ampeloprasum. It’s more closely related to leeks but produces massive cloves with a milder garlic flavor. I mainly roast it and serve it with mixed roasted vegetables or warm bread, cheese, and butter. If you’ve never seen elephant garlic before, you aren’t alone. It’s an expensive delicacy, and if you find it at a supermarket or farmers’ market, save some cloves to plant in the garden.

Elephant garlic grows much the same way as hardneck garlic. It needs several months of cold weather (under 40⁰F/4⁰C), or the same time in the refrigerator, to encourage clove formation. Otherwise, it will only produce one large mono-bulb.

I plant each clove at least a foot apart and bury it twice as deep as it is tall each October. Over winter, you’ll spot a small, leek-like sprout emerging, which then shoots up once it gets warmer.

Elephant garlic is a larger plant than normal garlic but grows much the same way. Remove the scapes in early summer, like hardneck garlic, and harvest the plants when the foliage begins to turn yellow and brown. Once dried out, it can last a year or more, and I tend to keep mine in the kitchen. Don’t forget to choose the best cloves to plant again for the next year’s crop. That way, you can keep the delicacy going for absolutely no extra cost.

How to Know When to Harvest Garlic

Garlic is ready to harvest in late June and early July after about six to eight months of growing. The main sign that garlic is ready to harvest is that the bottom leaves are yellowing. Try not to water the plants too much when you spot this happening. It can dilute the flavor of the cloves after you’ve harvested them.

When the bottom third of the leaves are yellow, it’s usually time to dig them up. If in doubt, dig up one garlic plant and have a look. The head should be a good size, and the neck still strong and relatively green.

You can wait until up to half of the leaves on the plants are yellow or turning yellow, but don’t wait too long. Each leaf represents a layer of paper that covers the garlic bulb. As each leaf dies and dries, that papery protection can be compromised, especially if it’s been raining. You may also see signs of the bulb splitting if you wait too long.

After you harvest, the outside of each head of garlic will be dirty, but the skin will look firm and intact. If it looks slimy, you’ll need to remove that material from the garlic bulb. That slimy material could have been intact papery material that protected the garlic if you’d harvested earlier. The bottom line is that harvesting garlic too late can mean that it won’t store as well or as long.

Drying Garlic for Storage

When you’re ready to harvest garlic, wait for a dry, sunny day and gently dig it up with a garden fork. Brush off as much soil as you can, remove any gunk from the head, and leave the garlic to dry for an afternoon in the sun or in a warm, airy place. Don’t wash them with water since it can cause the bulbs and their covering to spoil. Now, it’s time to cure the garlic for storage.

Take the garlic undercover and either hang it in bunches or set it on a screen or table to dry completely. Drying garlic is important since it stops potential rot in its tracks and gives it a longer shelf life. It doesn’t have to be a big operation, either. One thing that works for me is unceremoniously dumping garlic in a cardboard box and putting it in a dry place like the garage.

If you plan to plait garlic together, keep the green leaves on and let the foliage dry out completely. Hardneck garlic isn’t easy to plait because of its hard stem, so you can cut off the foliage before or after drying.

It can take several weeks for the garlic to dry completely. Look for no sign of moisture and dry, crispy leaves if you’ve left the leaves on. At this point, you clean the garlic of any remaining soil. The dirty roots and skins clean up nicely by rubbing them with your fingers and gently pulling off any dirty pieces of papery skin. You can also trim the roots now if you wish.

Storing Homegrown Garlic

Now, there are a couple of ways to store garlic. Traditionally, plait (braid) garlic and store it hanging in the house. You can do this, but it’s not necessary. Garlic also stores well in baskets, bags, or trays if the container has plenty of airflow. If you choose this method, it’s easier to snip the foliage off the garlic about half an inch to a full inch above the head.

Whether you’re braiding garlic or storing it in containers, the key is to let it dry completely first. Then keep it in an airy place at room temperature, out of direct sun and light. 50-68⁰F (10-20⁰C) is the best temperature range to store garlic.

Cold temperatures can cause it to sprout, and dampness can encourage mold and rot. Softneck garlic can last 6-12 months if stored properly, and hardneck garlic lasts 3-6 months.

You can also use some of your harvested garlic cloves to grow next year’s crops. That means once you’ve invested in garlic, you can keep growing year to year with no added expense.

Braiding Garlic for Storage

Once you’ve harvested and dried softneck garlic, you need to keep it stored in a way that extends its life and is convenient. That’s why garlic is often plaited and hung in the kitchen. If it’s near where you’re cooking, it’s easy to take a head of garlic off when you need it. If your kitchen is generally warmer than 68F (20C), consider storing your garlic in a pantry or another room.

Plaiting, or braiding, garlic is similar to French braiding hair if you’ve ever done that. You begin with three heads of garlic and their pliable dried leaves. I tie them together for ease, then begin braiding them, adding new garlic as I work up. Watch the video below to see how to braid garlic.

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