Garlic from our 2015 harvest

We’re growing garlic again! You can plant garlic in the spring, but I do it in the Fall. Overwintering like this gives the garlic a head start and makes for a higher yield. Here’s how I do it:

• Plant during the first week of August
• Separate the cloves and plant them root side down (pointy side up)
• Plant the cloves 1 foot apart with 1” of soil above the tip
• You should see green shoots in the fall
• If winter lows get below 20°F, mulch the shoots to protect them from the cold
• Fertilize in the spring when you notice that they are growing (I like Osmocote Plus)
• Re-apply fertilizer as necessary (read the label)
• Water regularly during the early summer
• Stop watering when the leaves start to die
• Harvest from dry soil when about half the leaves have died (but some are still green)

Notes:

Some people plant closer together or deeper. I have sometimes planted the cloves so that there is no soil above the pointy end (because I wanted to see the green shoot as soon as possible). So you can adapt this method to your own situation.

I grow hardneck garlic. I like them better than softneck because they have fewer, larger cloves that are easier to peel. They also have a good strong flavor that I like. Hardnecks are better adapted to the cold than softnecks, but softnecks keep longer.