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How to Plant Garlic (Fall Garlic Planting)

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Learn how to plant garlic in the fall for a fantastic garlic harvest the following summer. I'm sharing how to properly plant garlic, when to plant it, and the specifics for growing garlic from a clove.

A basket of garlic next to a garden bed that has been mulched.

Why I Love Growing Garlic

Is there a better herb to grow at home? I think not! The humble garlic clove has so many uses, from an essential ingredient in my homemade fire cider to one of my favorite medicinal herbs to grow at home.

I love that garlic is one of the plants you plant in the fall after the garden has generally stopped producing, then it does its thing, all on its own, early spring and summer.

If you've never had homegrown garlic before, just like anything else, you just won't believe how delicious it is!

A garlic clove in the soil.

Can I Grow Garlic From a Clove?

Yes! Growing garlic from a clove is exactly how you grow garlic. It's important that you plant your clove in the ground the correct way, so keep reading to find out exactly how to plant garlic cloves.

One tiny garlic clove planted in the fall will form an entire head of garlic the following summer. Plan to plant garlic when you are getting your homestead ready for winter.

Garlic shoots coming up through the soil being watered with a red watering can.

How Long Does Garlic Take to Grow?

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we plant our garlic in early to mid-fall, when the ground is still workable, preferably before any snowfall has occurred. Garlic harvest isn't until early summer the following year, but that doesn't mean it's growing that entire time.

One might say garlic takes 9-10 months to grow, but truthfully the garlic grows for a month or so once planted, creating a tiny shoot, then the rest of the growth happens early spring until harvest.

You can add a nice thick layer of mulch or straw over the garlic just after the tiny shoots have emerged. If you're planting extra late in the year and the threat of snow is imminent, you can also mulch right after you plant. I prefer to do everything at once so we add our straw right at planting time.

A hoe digging a trench in a garden bed.

What Month Do You Plant Garlic?

Traditionally, October is a month of harvest. But in the Pacific Northwest (and many other parts of the country) October is the month you plant garlic for a summer harvest.

We plant our garlic the first week of October, but if the ground hasn't frozen or endured a deep frost, you're safe a few weeks in. The rule of thumb is to plant garlic two weeks before and up to two weeks after your first frost in the fall.

A basket of harvested dried garlic.

What Garlic is Best to Plant?

You'll need to decide if you want to plant soft-neck or hard-neck garlic. We prefer soft necks so we can braid them to hang in the kitchen. Plus, soft neck has a longer shelf life.

Hardneck garlic cannot be braided and has a much shorter shelf life, but it usually has a stronger more complex flavor.

In the photo above you can see a variety of each. The soft-neck garlic is the braids (and larger heads), the hard-neck garlic is the smaller single bulbs..

Some people choose to grow a variety of garlic, soft-neck garlic for long-term storage, and hard-neck garlic for turning into homemade garlic powder or using it medicinally.

My favorite is soft neck Inchelium Red Garlic, it stores incredibly well, is very prolific (lots of cloves per bulb), and is considered a gourmet (aka delicious) garlic.

How Much Garlic Should I Plant Per Person?

This depends on how much garlic you eat. We tend to be if a recipe calls for one clove let's use at least three type of people.

The average recommended amount is 15 bulbs per person. Find out more on How Much to Plant Per Person for a Year's Worth of Food here.

Soaking Garlic Before Planting

Many people wonder whether or not you need to soak garlic before planting. And after a quick search on the interwebs, there is much recommended for this step.

My answer may differ from many recommendations out there, but here are my thoughts on soaking or not soaking garlic before planting…

  • The reason most people soak their garlic seed in water mixed with baking soda is to kill any potential fungal disease on the cloves before planting. However, certified seed garlic is tested and guaranteed to be free of fungal disease, therefore there is no need to soak certified seed garlic.
  • If you're not sure if your garlic has been contaminated with fungal disease, my recommendation would be to try finding certified seed garlic and not planting the questionable garlic.
  • If you don't have any other options for planting garlic, I would recommend planting those cloves in a separate area, away from your main crop garden, in a container or something small where you can dispose of the soil if it turns out your garlic was infested. (A kiddie pool is a great inexpensive option!)
  • Here in the damp and rainy Pacific Northwest I would never soak my garlic because we already have very damp soil in the fall, so soaking my garlic and then planting it into damp soil is just a recipe for mold or rotting cloves.
  • The one and only caveat where I could possibly see the reason behind soaking garlic before planting is if you live in a very dry climate. But even then, I would just recommend making sure your soil stays adequately mulched, amended, and watered well to stay damp enough for the garlic to begin to sprout.

Where Do I Buy Seed Garlic?

I recommend you purchase your seed garlic from a local grower if possible. Most store-bought garlic has been sprayed so it won't sprout in the store, meaning it won't sprout in your soil either.

We bought our initial seed garlic from a local farming store, which stocked garlic that was grown on a local farm. Plus, local farmers know which varieties will grow best in your climate and area.

However, I've also since found and ordered (I like to try out a few new varieties each year) this organic garlic seed farm.

Softnecked garlic is usually easier to grow.

Once you've grown a garlic crop, you can save some bulbs from your own harvest to plant the next year. Just remember, one clove of garlic will equal a bulb of garlic. Keep reading below for tips on getting the best quality garlic heads year over year.

A woman's hand holding a clove of garlic.
A hand placing a garden clove into the soil.
A long garden row planted with garlic cloves.

How Do You Properly Plant Garlic?

  1. Break the cloves apart and remove any loose paper. Don't remove all the paper though, you don't want the actual garlic showing, that paper is a nice protective layer.
  2. Plant the garlic clove with the fat end down in the soil (the part that is closest to the root from your main bulb).
  3. Plant each clove with about two inches of soil covering it from the tip of the clove.
  4. Keep cloves six to eight inches apart in all directions.
Three kids adding straw mulch onto a garden bed.
A garden bed that has been mulched with straw.
A garden bed where garlic is planted covered in straw mulch.

Garlic Planting Tips for Success

  • Be sure your soil is well-draining. In the past, we've used raised beds. After tilling down deep and heavily composting with dried cow manure, we now plant in our in-ground garden beds.
  • Weed free is a plus as garlic doesn't like to compete for space.
  • Mulch – Once your garlic has sprouted, mulch around the green shoots (it's fine if you mulch with straw right at planting time). After your first hard frost (green shoots will wither), mulch with straw over the entire bed.
  • Pull mulch in the spring – Once temperatures are warming up and you begin to see new growth on the garlic, you can pull the mulch back from the new shoots to allow for more sunlight to get through.
A garden bed where garlic is planted covered in straw mulch.

When Do I Harvest Garlic?

I have two other posts with more information on how to harvest garlic and how to braid and store garlic for long-term storage.

For now, I hope you get some garlic in the ground this year, for most places, it's not too late! If you have mild winters, you can even plant in late winter or early spring (or if you forget, I've planted as late as February with success but don't recommend waiting that long as a principal).

Do you plant winter crops? Have you planted garlic before?

Garlic curing on a screen.

More Gardening Articles

Pioneering Today-How to Harvest Garlic

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Our pioneer forefathers had to use every season to its advantage in order to provide food for their families all year round. I had never done winter crops until two years ago when we planted our first bulbs of garlic.

harvestandcuregarlic

In the Pacific Northwest, garlic needs to be planted in the fall, around mid-October. Garlic likes well drained soil, so we chose to use raised beds, due to our large amounts of rainfall. Untreated cedar makes a great choice for your raised beds.

Our first year, we planted hardneck garlic. Hardneck garlic can be easier to grow, but it doesn't have as long as shelf life and you can't braid it.

When to harvest garlic

In my garden (zone 7b), garlic tends to start popping out of the ground in March. (To see what else is happening in my garden in March, check out Gardening in March (Garden Tasks by Month).

This year, we went with soft necked. Softneck garlic is ready to harvest when it falls over on it's own.

Hardneck garlic is ready to harvest when the tops begin to turn brown. Both are usually in mid-July when planted the end of September or first part of October.

How to harvest garlic

Loosen the bulbs with your hands (you'll get dirty) and pull them out. You can test the strength of the leaves by pulling, but I've pulled them off and prefer to have the garlic on the leaves in order to braid it. If the ground is soft, I use my fingers to reach down around the bottom of the bulb and pull up, loosening the roots. I'm a get my hands in the dirt kind of gardener.

Or you cab use a shovel to break up the soil around them, be careful not to slice your garlic. Brush most of the dirt, especially the big clods, off of the roots and garlic. But don't remove any of the outside layers, it's okay if they're a little bit dirty. If too much dirt is left on it can hold in moisture and start to mold before it's fully cured.

How to cure garlic

Garlic needs to sit somewhere with good ventilation to cure, for at least two weeks. The area should have good ventilation. We use our covered back deck. It shouldn't be cured in direct sunlight, you can sunburn the bulbs and lose some of the flavor.

We've hung ours on a leftover piece of metal fencing, and this works well if you don't have much deck space or are worried about something getting into it. Another option, especially if you're harvesting a lot, is to put the  garlic on a large screen. We harvested 80 bulbs this year and used the screen on top of two saw horses.

Be warned, the first few days it's curing, anytime you venture near the garlic, it will smell like Italian heaven. You're mouth will start to water.

After it's cured, store it in a cool dry place. We don't have a garage, so we've used both our pump house and the pantry in the house.

But with the softneck garlic, I can braid it and hang it in the kitchen for easy access. We use garlic in just about everything we cook and in the wet, sometimes snowy, winter months, I won't have to hoof it out to the pump house.

Do you do winter crops? What's your favorite way to use garlic?

This post is featured at The Homestead Barn Hop.

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