Plan ahead

Planting Garlic: What to Know First

Plan ahead · 3 min read

Garlic is the one you plant in fall and harvest the next summer. A little planning now, in the middle of summer, sets you up for fat bulbs later. Here is what to know before you plant.

Garlic runs on a long clock

Most vegetables are a season. Garlic is nearly a year. You plant cloves in fall, they root and rest through winter, and they size up into bulbs by the following summer. That long runway is why it is worth thinking about now, before the good seed garlic sells out.

Buy seed garlic, not the grocery kind

Plant garlic sold as seed garlic, from a nursery or seed supplier. Supermarket garlic is often treated to stop it sprouting and may not suit your conditions. Seed garlic comes in named varieties, which brings us to the choice worth making.

Hardneck or softneck

• Hardneck varieties handle cold winters well and send up a curling scape in spring that you can eat. They tend to have big, easy-to-peel cloves.
• Softneck varieties store longer and do better in mild-winter areas. These are the ones you can braid.

Planting, in brief

When your window opens in fall, plant cloves pointy end up, about 2 in (5 cm) deep and 6 in (15 cm) apart, then mulch. Verna will flag that window for where you garden, so you are not guessing at the date.

See what still has time in your garden

Verna maps sowing, transplanting, and harvest timing to your exact spot.