Planting Garlic in the Fall

If you love garlic as much as I do, then frost is your best friend.  Why?  It is time to plant garlic! Bearing any disasters, next year you will be smothering in garlic.  Can’t you just smell the garlic now?

Where Do You Order?

I order from various places based upon when I remember to order.  Many of my go to places run out by the time Peter Rabbit thumps me on the head to remind me that it that garlic planting time.   I always order organic garlic.  Below are some of my favorite places.

•  Grey Duck (ordered from)
• Filareefarm (this year I ordered from them.)

In the video below, I am planting porcelain  garlic from Filareefarm.  They are beautiful.

Other places I haven’t ordered yet but would order from:

• Thaxtonsorganicgarlic
• Organicseedfarm

Take your time and preview the different varieties.  Honestly, I never knew there were so many varieties to choose from.

If you live in the north, you want to purchase hardneck garlic.  In the south, you want to purchase softneck garlic.

How do you Plant Garlic?

Bottoms down, baby.  (Yeah, your favorite way to drink might be bottoms up but this is not the case with garlic.)  Watch the video below on how to plant garlic.

I plant them right after a hard frost.  In my area (zone 6) I plant at the end of October or beginning of November.  In the South, you can plant them up until December.

Growing garlic in the southern or warm regions can be tricky. Garlic doesn’t like the heat. Grey Duck has a handy southern guide on growing garlic.

I plant the bottom of the garlic four to six inches below the soil.  Its skinny top should be smiling at you.

I plant my garlic in a small raised bed, six inches apart and six inches from the next row.  Note, if you want to follow conventional garlic advice, plant 6 inches apart in row two feet apart.

Last year, I lost most of my garlic due to our bitterly cold winter.  This year I put six inches of straw on top of the garlic to protect it.

Can you plant store-bought garlic?

I have never planted store-bought garlic.  If you want to try your hand  at planting a bulb be sure to purchase organic.  Other non-organic bulbs may be sprayed to reduce sprouting.

Additionally make sure the bulb is nice and hard.  Otherwise, your bulbs could rot.  Separate the garlic pieces from the bulb at the time of planting.  Keep the skin on.

I tried to plant some old garlic from a year old garlic harvest, and they all rotted.  Next time, I will plant freshly harvested garlic or throw some bulbs in the freezer to keep them from sprouting.

Planting in the spring

Some plant in the Spring.  Conventional gardening advice states the garlic bulbs will be smaller, but Heather of Hippy Homestead told me the size of her bulbs was the same.  Heather harvests her spring garlic in September.

Fertilizing

To be honest, I plant my garlic and left the garlic mature.  According to Organic Gardening:

“Start foliar-feeding your garlic every two weeks as soon as leaf growth begins in spring (typically in March) and continue until around May 15, at which point the bulbs begin to form, says Darrell Merrell, host of the “Garlic Is Life” Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Merrell uses 1 tablespoon liquid seaweed mix and 1 tablespoon fish emulsion mixed into a gallon of water.”

Read HERE on how to harvest them.

Join the Conversation:

Do you grow garlic and if so, which type do you grow?

 

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