How does your garlic grow

Saturday, September 23, 2023

Fall is the time to plant garlic for next year's harvest.  There are many varieties to choose from.  Mail order supplies run out fast so if you want to order some, now is the time to get your order in.  Big box stores should have garlic cloves that you can buy for planting as well.  It is a carefree edible that is easy to grow; just plant in fertile, loose soil in fall and watch it sprout and grow.

Garlic has been around for thousands of years and is rich in lore.  It has been reputed to repel vampires, clear the blood, cure baldness, aid digestion over the ages.  It originated in Asia, was cultivated in Egypt and has been a Mediterranean staple for centuries.  Today’s studies have shown garlic is antibacterial, anti-fungal, antiviral, and a cancer fighter. And, it tastes great!  Garlic is high in vitamin C, B6, calcium, manganese, selenium and more.  For more nutritional info,  garlic nutritional value 

It is easy to grow and has little pest issues.  All you do is throw them in the ground in the fall in October or November and by early summer, they are ready to harvest.  Loosening the soil and adding compost prior to planting can boost the garlic bulb size.  I have planted Elephant garlic straight into my mulched flower beds and had great luck.  Their flower in spring is quite striking as well.

There is soft and hard necked garlic.  For storing, soft neck garlic is the ticket.  Soft neck garlic can store for months.  It's stems can be braided, too.  It is also the strongest flavored.  Hard necked varieties can be milder, have larger cloves, is easier to peel, and more cold hardy.  Garlic connoisseurs say hard neck varieties have rich and complex flavors.

If your winter weather is too mild, hard neck varieties will make small heads.  If you live where zoysia and bermuda grass thrive, soft neck garlic is the best choice.  You can always buy a sampler pack and try different types to see which grow best in your garden conditions.  

A good bet for finding which grow best in your area is to visit farmers markets and see what varieties are offered locally.  Locally grown garlic can also be used for planting in your own garden. 

I gravitate toward hard neck garlic for our Zone 7 garden because it is so much easier to peel than the soft neck garlic I have tried.  Elephant garlic is also a staple in my garden because the cloves are huge!  Elephant garlic is actually in the leek family but has a strong garlic flavor.  I usually try a new garlic variety advertised to give huge cloves and easy to peel about every other year.  I always save my best cloves from the summer to plant in the fall.

The clove puts out roots in the fall.  Depending on how warm the winter is, there can be green shoots showing through the cold months.  Garlic will be some of the first to start growing in spring.  The stems resemble onion greens.  The hard neck type garlic has a flower, or scape, with a cute little curl in it.  They are great in salads.  There is debate among garlic growers if removing the scape will also increase the bulb size.  Either way, you can't lose by harvesting them.

Hard neck garlic scapes

You can tell the difference in the two by looking at the flowers.  Leeks and soft neck garlic have a onion type flower (below) while hard neck garlic has a curly scape flower (above).

Elephant garlic flower

You should choose the biggest cloves to plant.  The bigger the clove, the bigger the harvest!  Cloves as a root vegetable like loose soil, compost and steady fertilizer.  Like carrots, radishes and beets, you can add sand to give a looser soil structure in your garlic bed.  Simply tilling in compost should provide the soil texture that garlic loves.  Compost and mulch well in the fall before cold weather sets in.

Plant the cloves root side down (that is the flat end, not the pointy end), 1-2” deep, and 4-6” apart.  For planting by the cycle of the moon, garlic should be planted during the waning cycle of the moon.  After the greens sprout to 6”, add compost or fertilizer as a side dressing.  Garlic does not need a lot of nitrogen so compost is a good choice.  

Garlic sprouting in winter

Garlic is ready to harvest then the tops begin to die off in the early to mid summer.  Each leaf represents a layer of the white covering on your clove bulb.  Dig up one or two when about half of the leaves have died (40% yellowed/brown leaves).  If the bulb is still small, wait a couple more weeks before harvesting.   If you harvest too late, the outer covering will have disintegrated and you will have just loose, naked cloves.

Store bought conventional garlic has been treated with chemicals to keep them from sprouting so they are not a great choice for growing your own.  Organic garlic has not been treated with these chemicals so these will sprout.  

A great option is to buy garlic from your local farmers market.  You know they grew well in your area and if you like the taste.  Just separate out the bulb(s) into individual cloves and plant the biggest ones.  Be sure to leave the "skin" on the cloves that you intend to plant.  You can eat or preserve the smaller cloves.

If your stored garlic dries up over the winter, grind it into garlic powder.  If you have great tasting garlic that doesn’t store well or you have a bountiful crop, another preservation option is pickled garlic.  This is my go-to preservation method.  Just peel (Quick tip-”peeling” garlic) and cover your fresh garlic cloves in organic apple cider vinegar.  You can add a couple of hot peppers if you want to add some extra zing!  
Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!

Of course, you can also add garlic to the tomato sauce (Preserving the tomato harvest), pickles (Easy, homemade pickles) or peppers you are going to can.  You can flavor vinegars or oils by popping crushed garlic into them (Quick tip-make your own flavored oils).  Many options for utilizing your garlic harvest!