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Planting and Growing Garlic
Home > Gardener's Guide > Planting and Growing Garlic
Garlic (Allium Sativum)
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| Pictured: Spanish Roja Garlic |
Provide full sun in a deeply tilled soil of fluffy, generously amended, slightly acidic soil for your garlic bulbs. Plant your garlic cloves, unpeeled, pointy end up, 2 inches deep and 5 inches apart. Side-dress the rows with compost and mulch to keep weeds away. Mulch again after the ground is frozen. When the garlic begins to grow in the spring, pull the mulch back. Be sure to clip off any flower stalks that begin to appear as to concentrate all the plants energy to the bulb. Harvest garlic when the plants leaves begin to turn brown.
When to Plant Garlic?
Planting garlic in the fall is most common for all gardening zones. Plant cloves in after the first frost and the soil is cool. Garlic cloves can also be planted in late winter as soon as the soil thaws, but fall-planted garlic produces bigger, better bulbs.
First Frost Dates by Gardening Zone
| USDA Hardiness Zone | First Frost Date |
| 1 | July 15th |
| 2 | August 15th |
| 3 | September 15th |
| 4 | September 15th |
| 5 | October 15th |
| 6 | October 15th |
| 7 | October 15th |
| 8 | November 15th |
| 9 | December 15th |
| 10 | December 15th |
| 11 | No Frost |
Types of Garlic
Softneck garlic types grow best where winters are mild, though some tolerate cold to Zone 5. Most varieties do not produce flower stalks, but softnecks are great for braiding. Popular softnecks include California Early.
Hardneck types adapt to cold winter climates, and all produce flower stalks in early summer. Popular hardneck varieties include Purple Italian, Spanish Roja, and German Porcelain.
Elephant garlic produces a large, mild-flavored bulb comprised of four to six big cloves. Closely related to leeks, elephant garlic is hardy to Zone 5 if given deep winter mulch.
Growing Garlic Indoors and in Pots
Growing garlic indoors is a great option in the fall. Garlic needs large pots (at least 8" per clove) for proper root growth. The larger the size of the container, healthier and bigger the garlic bulbs will be. The container should also have holes at the bottom so that the water can drain out easily. Otherwise the root would rot. For optimum growth of the garlic plant, chose a sunny spot where there is enough air circulation. This would aid evaporation of excess amount of water and prevent the soil from becoming too damp in case excess watering does occur. Window sill is a good place to put your container of garlic plant. Lastly, garlic needs a good amount of fertilizer. Once the garlic tips emerge, start feeding the plants once or twice every month with general purpose fertilizer. Also water them every other day.
Visit the Urban Farmer Garlic Department.
