Not sure how to plant garlic?
Click Here to get my Free Ebook on How to Grow Garlic
It’s time to put in my order for garlic here in my Zone 6a Illinois garden. Like tulips and daffodils, garlic is planted in the fall and comes up in the spring. It’s one of my favorite fall garden traditions. Garlic is planted here in October, so order your seed garlic this summer to get the best selection. Since garlic has become extremely popular the last few years, if you can’t find your favorite variety, you can always buy organic, locally grown garlic at farmers markets.
If your family likes garlic and you're ready to reap its many health benefits, but you’ve never grown it before, believe me, it’s easy and fun. I’ve written a growing guide - one I wish I had my first year of growing garlic eight years ago! It gives beginning gardeners the information necessary to successfully grow garlic for the first time.
Get the free guide here!
Each bulb separates into cloves. Each clove planted in the fall yields a new bulb the following summer.
If you’ve never grown garlic before, start small the first year. Plant 6-8 cloves from ONE garlic bulb and you will have 6-8 bulbs to harvest next summer. If you decide you like growing garlic - and you will - you can plant even more the following year! That’s how I first started, and now I harvest more than 90 bulbs for my family and friends that last through the winter months.
Garlic not only adds a gourmet touch to home cooking, it also adds a super healthy punch (The Health Benefits of Garlic).
If you're still hesitant, read what others say who once felt the same way. Here are the answers to a question I posed to some of the growers I’ve helped:
Garlic scapes appear about a month or so before harvest. They are edible and can be used in cooking. They are removed to allow energy to go into bulb formation.
Q: How did you feel about growing garlic for the first time?
“When you suggested I try growing garlic, I was worried that if I didn’t plant the clove at exactly the right height or distance, it wouldn’t grow. But I followed your step by step approach. and quite frankly, after planting and putting mulch on top, I forgot about it. Then I saw the sprouts in the spring, and it was very exciting. They grew into whimsical plants! After making Garlic Scape Lemon Butter, I was hooked. The bulbs I harvested lasted well into winter. I couldn’t wait to plant garlic the second year, and now I’m on my third year! It was easy and a beautiful addition to the garden. I’m so glad my eyes (and nose!) have been opened to the garlic plant!” (from Muffy O.)
“My daughters, ages 7 and 9, really enjoy spending the summer planting vegetables. Jan suggested we plant garlic because it is super simple and would be fun for my girls to grow. The girls were super excited about it, so we gave it a try. I let my kids put the cloves in the soil in early October, which only took five minutes. After we covered them with a little mulch, we didn’t touch them again. To our delight, by May our garlic was really growing! We used the scapes to make Garlic Scape Lemon Butter (link to recipe in previous paragraph), which is amazing on everything from steaks to veggies. By July, the bulbs were ready to harvest. My kids dug them out of the ground and hung the bulbs in our garage to dry for three weeks. Our reward? Delicious, organic, homegrown garlic all winter long. We are ready to plant our garlic again this fall!” (From Lauren B.)
“I had no experience in planting garlic until you showed me that all I had to do was stick cloves in the ground, I must admit I was a little skeptical, but then spring came, and things started growing! All I did was follow the process step by step. By the time the second year rolled around, I had the confidence to do things all by myself!” (Cathy C.)
So please let me know if you're “in” on growing garlic this fall. I would love to hear your experiences. It’s always fun to grow something new!
Hardneck garlic and clove.