Planting Garlic
When to Plant Garlic
When your summer garden has gone to sleep and the hours of daylight have grown too short, you know its time to plant garlic! Garlic is best planted in late fall before the ground freezes. While October is the most common month for planting garlic, it can be planted anytime between September and November, depending on your growing zone. In 2021, we planted our garlic the first weekend of November.
How to Plant Garlic
To plant garlic, first the bulbs should be broken into individual cloves, but leave as much of the papery skin on as possible. Space the garlic cloves 4 to 6 inches apart with 6 inches between rows. Garlic needs to be planted deep. Plant 3 inches deep with the pointy side up (depth varies by growing zone; check to see what is recommended for your zone). Cover with about 6 inches of mulch (In the below picture, I only have a couple of inches of compost; later it was topped with rabbit manure and straw). Garlic should be ready to harvest around July.
Tips For Propagating Your Own Garlic
If you have saved your garlic from a previous planting, you should do a couple of things to prepare your saved cloves for planting. First, inspect the cloves to make sure they appear healthy and disease free (no black spots). Then, soak the cloves in a mixture of 1 teaspoon baking soda in a gallon of water overnight. Last, before planting, dip the cloves in rubbing alcohol for a minute or 2. Together, these two soaks kill bacteria, mold/fungus, and mites. Because garlic purchased from a reputable seed company should already be treated, you should only need to do this with your own seed stock.
Happy garlic planting!