Time to plant garlic, shallots and perennial onions!

 

Perennial onions

Sunday, October 4, 2026

There are many perennial alliums.  Alliums include garlic, chives, leeks, and onions.  Fall is the time to plant perennial alliums like potato onions, walking onions, shallots and garlic.  

Garlic, leeks, shallots and onions will continue coming back year after year unless you pull them.  If they are not big enough the first year, leave them and they will come back bigger the following year.  For the biggest onions and cloves, fall is the best time to plant.  You can plant in the spring but your garlic cloves will be much smaller and your shallots and onions will have many fewer and smaller bulbs.

There are also Egyptian walking onions, potato onions, and shallots which are considered “multiplier” onions.  They continue spreading out from the single bulb you plant.  As long as you leave a few bulbs behind, they will come back the following year.  Egyptian walking onions are usually pulled and used fresh, but they can be conditioned for a couple of weeks and stored for months like potato onions.  Egyptian walking onions  

If you grow garlic, you will likely find that the following year you have garlic sprouting again even after harvesting the bulbs.  Many garlic bulbs will have little “bulbils” that become detached from the bigger bulb when you pull them.  These babies come back up the next spring.  I also had many bulbils from my hardneck garlic flower tops.  

These look like seeds but they are actually clones of the mother plant.   

I planted them last fall and they were just little guys this year.  I'll leave them in the ground to continue growing.  It'll likely take at least 2 years for them to get large enough to harvest.  From the bulbs I harvested this summer, I will take the biggest cloves and plant those for next year's harvest.

Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

I choose to grow hardback garlic because the cloves tend to be larger and the skins are stiffer, making them much easier to peel than soft neck.  Also with hardneck, you get the pretty purple flower and the bulbets after flowering.  There are probably 50 baby cloves in the top so you can really expand your garlic quickly and economically with hardneck garlic.  If you love scapes or braiding your cloves together, softneck is the way to go.

How to choose garlic to grow

In my Zone 7a, here is the recommendation on fall planting times:

September through October plant Egyptian walking onions

Mid-October until mid-December plant garlic, potato onions, overwintering onions and shallots

Plant about 1" deep in soil rich with organic matter and well-drained, 6" apart for individual cloves or bulbs.  I already added the phosphorous and potassium my soil test said to add this spring so I will put a handful of blood meal for nitrogen under each bulb at planting.  If you haven't done a soil test, you can add a balanced fertilizer in each hole as you plant.  In the spring, continue to side dress with nitrogen every 2-3 weeks when growing resumes.  If using blood meal, use 1 cup per 10 feet of planting.  Alliums prefer a soil pH of 6.5-7.  I usually just dig a trench, put blood meal in the bottom, fill in a bit of the soil and then plant the clove.

I have issues with voles in my garden in the past.  They are supposed to be repelled by blood so I am going to use blood meal as my nitrogen source when planting to see if that helps.  I planted daffodils and creeping thyme all around my beds to deter them and it seems to be working.

To protect against a severe winter freeze, apply a few inches of mulch over the bed.

I ordered potato onions from Southern Exposure a couple of summers ago and planted that fall.  Since they did not grow much, I did not dig and divide them.  I did not see any sprouts from them this year.  I'll dig them up to see if they are still in the ground and move them since this spot is not working well for them.  The Dutch Red Shallots they substituted for half of the potato onions did pretty well so I dug them, divided  them and replanted last fall.  I think I'll just let them go another year before dividing again.  If I need shallots, I can dig them any time.  If shallots are happy in the bed, you should get 4-12 shallots from each bulb come spring.  Potato onions increase by 3-8 fold in weight from fall to spring, but mine were very small when I planted them last fall and did not do much.  

There is a risk if there is a really hard winter that you can lose many or all of your fall planted potato onions and shallots.  Using mulch can help protect against the loss.  Southern Exposure recommends planting the biggest bulbs in the fall and saving the smallest bulbs to plant in the spring as an insurance policy.

In our Zone 7a, I have not had an issue with an extreme winter killing my bulbs, but I do use mulch in all my gardening beds.

I wanted potato onions since they multiple underground and have a long storage life.  I'm guessing that it will take a couple of years to get the potato onions really going so that between them and the Egyptian walking onions, I should not have to buy cooking onions any longer.  

Sweet onions do not store for long so I will still buy one of those every month or two for burgers.  I did also order sweet Egyptian walking onions that I planted last year in a pot and this year they really got going.  They'll be an experiment to see if I can substitute them for sweet bulb onions for burgers.  It's fun to try new things in the garden!

I have many, many bulblets from my existing Egyptian walking onions that I have been giving away to other gardeners.  These walking onions have the taste of a white onion.  Each bulblet with produce a full size Egyptian walking onion bulb (about the size of a leek if planted in a pot) if planted individually so they have room to grow.  The ones I planted in our local Demonstration Garden raised bed got the size of a normal onion.  You can plant them 4-6" apart.  

For more on growing onions,  

Onions-everything you need to know to grow 'em

Alliums are very nutritious, easy to grow, and tasty.  Try some in your garden this year!

October 2026 Edible Garden Planner

Early October edible garden is in full bloom

Saturday, October 3, 2026

Gardening in October is typically refreshing, like the weather.  Pests are fading fast as the weather cools.  The sun shines brightly to take the chill off the cool days.  The summer vegetables like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil and okra continue to produce at a reduced pace.  The cool season crops like lettuce, carrots, radishes, peas, cabbage, beets, broccoli and cauliflower are coming into maturity throughout October and into November.  Flowers, bees and butterflies are abundant in the fall garden.

Now is the last call to save seeds from your favorite fruits and veggie plants if you haven't done so already.  The plants still producing well this time of year are great ones to make sure you have some seeds to plant again next year.  The varieties that do well in your garden conditions are ones you want to invite back!  Just be sure to not save seed from any plants that are diseased as this can bring the disease back into your garden in the spring.  My top 10 seed saving tips

Basil will turn black when it gets close to 35 degrees.  I pull all the leaves when it is forecasted to get close to freezing or any chance of frost.  You can chop basil, put in an ice cube tray and cover with water to then use any time your recipe calls for fresh basil.  It stores best when frozen in water.  I also dry some to add to my "Herbes de Provence" seasoning mix.  Most of my harvest I make into pesto and place in freezer bags with just enough for a meal.  Gives a whole new meaning to “fast food.”  Pesto is great over pasta, fish, or as a condiment on sandwiches.  Basil will root from cuttings if you want to bring it in for the winter.  Everything you need to know to grow, and preserve, basil

The bees just love basil flowers!  Bees favorite flowers are those with small flowers like basil.  The purple holy basil flowers mixed with the white sweet basil flowers are quite pretty, too, as well as very fragrant.  If you want to keep the stems from getting woody on these types of basil, keep the flowers pinched back.  I always have Cardinal basil as well in my garden.  The leaves are great in pesto, the flowers are showy, and they don't get woody stems like traditional sweet basil does.  

Bee on basil flower

Other herbs that do just fine through frosts are parsley, rosemary, thyme, chives, tarragon, winter savory, and sage.  It takes good snow cover to stop these herbs.  Many winters you can harvest these herbs the entire season for cooking.  Cut back the extra now, dry and make into seasoning mixes which you can give to the whole family at Christmas.   Make your own "Herbes de Provence" 

I will wait until it gets below 32 degrees before I strip off the eggplant, peppers and tomatoes.  You can freeze or dry these veggies.  Tomatoes are a high acid fruit so you can also easily can sauce from them without using a pressure canner; a stockpot is all that is needed.   Preserving the tomato harvest  Be sure to follow any canning recipes exactly so your canned goods don’t spoil.  

For more on preserving your extras for year round use, see

 Preservation garden

24 No Tech Storage Fruits and Vegetables

Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants are tropical perennials that can be brought in to overwinter.  If you have a favorite plant you would love to have in your garden next season, bring it in to an attached garage or even your living room.  I have successfully overwintered different kinds of hot peppers, dwarf tomatoes and a few eggplants.  You get a serious jump start on the season in the spring if they over winter.  I am bringing in my tiny hot pepper plant Chipetlin to overwinter for the ninth year and my Jigsaw pepper fourth year.  I have some tomato transplants I bought at the end of July.  Since I didn't plant them all, I'll bring indoors the extras to get a jump on spring.  I'll also have indoor basil as they volunteer in the tropical plants I bring in every fall.

There are several herbs that can be brought indoors as well.  Basil and chives are great ones to grow indoors in a sunny window since they lose so much flavor when dried and they are easy to grow indoors.  Growing herbs indoors for winter

Make sure you pull the tomatoes from the vine before the vine dies.  Wondering what to do with the green tomatoes?  You have a couple of options.  You can make fried green tomatoes-yum!  Just use some fish fry seasoning; we like Andy’s Cajun Seasoning.  A late fall tradition-fried green tomatoes!  They recommend you can also wrap green tomatoes in newspaper and store in a cool, dark location and many will ripen.  Check about weekly to cull any that spoil.  They won’t taste as good as fresh off the vine, but are better than store bought.  I have had tomatoes this way into February.  I also have just kept them in a bowl on the counter instead of wrapping.  They don't last quite as long but they are easier to cull any going bad.

Potted tomatoes first of November

As the vines die back and the fruit loses its sheen, it is time to harvest winter squash. Winter squash include the well known pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash and spaghetti squash among many others.   Be sure to leave at least a couple of inches of the stem and place in a warm sunny spot for the skin to harden for a week or two.  Many winter squashes will keep until next year.  I have had butternut and Trombetta squash last until the next summer.  Harvesting winter squash

October and November is garlic and shallot planting month for the Zone 7 garden!  Plant in the waning cycle of the moon.  Garlic and shallots loves loose, well-fertilized soil.  Loosen the soil down to about 6 inches, mix in a couple of inches of compost, and plant your cloves about 2-3” deep.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......  Garlic and shallot leaves are one of the first greens you will see in spring.  Don't be surprised to see them sprout this winter.

Now is also a great time to divide any perennials you have, whether they be herbs, edibles or ornamentals.  This will give them all fall and winter to put down strong roots.  Perennial greens (like chard, sorrel, cultivated dandelions, salad burnet) are always the first up in the spring.  This is the perfect time to plant any perennial plant.  The fall and winter allows the plants roots to grow deep, preparing it for a fast start in the spring.  Perennial veggies in the Midwest garden

It is still not too late in early October to transplant fall crops like cold hardy types of lettuce, cabbage, chard, pak choi, broccoli, kale, parsley or perennial herb plants.  You can check your neighborhood nurseries for bedding plants.  I use my Aerogarden or just a pot on the covered patio to start from seed cold hardy crops I want in my fall and winter garden.  Starting them indoors gets them going quicker.  With less sun and cooler temps outdoors, plants grow more slowly so getting bedding plants or starting indoors gets your fall veggies to full size quicker.  Add about 2 weeks to the "Days to Harvest" timing for fall planted edibles.

Cloches and portable row cover

To extend the season, you can order a mini greenhouse to cover your pots or the part of the garden you have planted your cold hardy greens you want to harvest all winter.  You can also purchase row covers that cover plants and provide protection from frosts, but not hard freezes.  Adding mulch is a good winter blanket for cool season crops.  Preparing the garden for frost

Winter hardy kale, spinach, Austrian peas, carrots and winter onions don’t need to be covered and can be harvested all winter (as long as the ground isn’t too frozen) and into spring.  I grow Austrian peas over winter and they provide greens for salad all winter long.  They have very pretty flowers, too.  Come spring I have lots of early peas too.

I’ll put our portable, plastic mini greenhouse over the greens in my Earthbox self watering pots sometime this month or next.  One watchout with green houses-they get very, very hot in sunny weather so be sure to open them to allow circulation in fall and early winter anytime the temps get into the 50's.  They will need to be closed up when winter really sets in December or January sometime.

Portable greenhouse over pots