Tips on Planting Garlic Bulbs in Fall

Garlic is one of the easiest crops to grow, requiring very little maintenance and care. So much so that you barely have to water it at all, other than at the time of planting and perhaps in early summer if weather is really dry.

One clove of garlic will produce an entire bulb for you. Just a word from the wise - garlic is a biennial, which means that planting it in fall will result in a harvest the following year, in early summer. Keeping that in mind, make sure you dedicate enough growing space for your garlic pods. If you don’t have much room to spare, why not plant garlic along the borders? It looks pretty, plus it makes a great companion plant by deterring pests!

Before you plant garlic, prep the soil by adding plenty of compost or organic matter, making sure soil is nice and loose. Many people lightly sprinkle bone meal or rock phosphate to add phosphorus to the soil, as it promotes bulb formation.

HOW TO PLANT:
1. Separate individual cloves from the bulb. Do not discard the wrapper/ skin. Use only the biggest cloves.
2. Draw trenches or rows in the soil, 6” apart.
3. Place bulbs 4” apart.
5. Push bulb into the soil about 2” to 4” deep, with pointy side facing up (toward the sky).
6. Cover with soil.
7. Water

Plant garlic 2 weeks before your first frost/ before the ground freezes. Mulch with a few inches of straw and reap bountiful harvests the next year!