How to Grow Garlic: 8 Super-Effective Tricks

Have you been wondering how to plant garlic in your home garden? Garlic is super easy to grow and offers an impressive range of benefits in the garden and in our diets. This post will cover how to grow garlic at home and explore several ways to use it for your other plants’ benefit.

Aside from appearing a staple ingredient in many of our favorite recipes, planting garlic helps ward off common garden pests and boosts the disease resistance of its neighboring plants. Garlic is a beneficial companion plant for most other garden crops. The exception is legumes like beans and peas – alliums and legumes reportedly stunt one another’s growth.

When selecting which garlic varieties to plant, know your USDA growing zone. Hardneck garlic is typically more cold-hardy than the softneck varieties.

Although most people primarily grow garlic for its strongly-flavored cloves, its leaves and flowers are also edible. Hardneck garlic varieties grow a long stalk that eventually develops a bulbil (similar to a flower) that’s also useful for cooking. Garlic leaves taste like chives with a mild garlic flavor.

Are you ready to learn all about growing garlic in your veggie garden? Let’s dig in!

Best Tips and Tricks for Planting Garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum) typically gets planted from individual cloves rather than from true seeds. Its flowers don’t often reach maturity. When planting garlic seeds, sow them a quarter-inch deep in a location that has nutrient-rich, well-draining soil and receives full sun.

Depending on your growing season, plant hardneck varieties in autumn or softneck garlic cloves in early spring. Garlic planted in the autumn is usually ready for harvest in mid-summer. Spring-planted garlic gets harvested in late summer or early fall, 120-150 days after planting.

It’s also possible to plant cloves from garlic bulbs bought at the grocery store when they start sprouting in your pantry. It’s beneficial to disinfect garlic cloves from the supermarket before planting them to avoid accidentally introducing plant diseases to your garden. Soak the cloves in room temperature water for 15-30 minutes, then transfer them to a rubbing alcohol bath and soak for an additional three to five minutes.

How to Grow Garlic Cloves

Growing garlic is remarkably straightforward. Select healthy-looking garlic bulbs and carefully peel them apart to find the largest cloves free from damage or discoloration.

Plant your garlic cloves two inches deep in soil that drains well and is rich in organic matter. Spacing between garlic plants should be about six to eight inches. The end attached to the bulb, called the basal plate, should be facing downwards. The pointed end where the leaves will emerge must face upwards.

Then, cover the garlic cloves with soil and give them a deep watering. Cover the area with a deep mulch layer to keep your garden soil insulated and retain moisture. Organic material like bark chips, grass clippings, leaves, pine needles, or weed-free straw makes excellent garden mulch. Garlic leaves will typically begin to sprout in early spring from fall-planted cloves or within four to eight weeks of spring planting. The exact harvest time depends on the weather conditions and which variety you’re growing.

Ideal Soil and Fertilizer to Grow Garlic

Although garlic plants need regular watering, the soil can’t stay soggy for long periods. Give your garlic around an inch of water per week in loamy soil or clay. They’ll need up to two inches of water weekly in sandier soils. Make sure your garden soil has plenty of nutrients by applying several inches of organic compost every two or three years in the fall or early spring.

Similar to most other garden veggies, garlic grows best in soil with a neutral to slightly acidic soil pH between 6.0-7.0. Contact your local extension service about a soil test if you’re unsure of your soil pH level.

When growing allium bulbs like garlic, leeks, onions, and shallots, it’s best to use an organic fertilizer high in nitrogen. Add one tablespoon of fertilizer to the bottom of the hole when planting garlic cloves. Throughout the growing season, fertilize every four to six weeks.

Purchase organic bulb fertilizer at your local garden center. Blood meal, kelp meal, and fish emulsion are excellent natural sources of nitrogen. Or, make your own DIY fertilizer blend using commonplace ingredients you might already have at home.

Hardneck vs. Softneck Garlic Varieties

There are two primary categories of garlic: hardneck and softneck. When deciding which garlic varieties to plant, there are several influential factors to consider.

Softneck varieties typically produce more cloves per bulb and store well. They’re smaller and have a milder taste than hardneck types. Many softneck garlic varieties get called “artichoke garlic” because their cloves overlap, resembling artichoke leaves.

Hardneck garlic plants develop long stems or scapes. Garlic scapes look like flower stalks, but the “flowers” are actually bulbils, the mother plant’s clones. Garlic bulbils are also edible. Plant garlic bulbils a bit shallower than you would with garlic cloves, a half-inch to one inch deep. To encourage your garlic plant to direct its energy toward growing larger cloves, prune the scapes before the bulbils mature.

A critical factor when growing hardneck garlic is providing a cold dormancy period of six to eight weeks at temperatures below 45°F. Hardneck garlic requires this cold exposure, called vernalization, to sprout and mature into a head of garlic. In warm climates without consistently cold winters, give your hardneck garlic a fake winter. Keep it in a paper bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for six to eight weeks before planting it in the spring.

Top Garlic Varieties

• Elephant Garlic (softneck and hardneck varieties, large cloves, mild flavor, easy to peel)
• Lorz Italian (softneck, medium-sized cloves, strong flavor, heat-tolerant)
• Purple Stripe (hardneck, medium-sized cloves, spicy flavor, purple stripes/blotches on skin)
• Russian Giant (mild flavor, large cloves with purple stripes, hardneck)
• Starbright (nutty flavor, large cloves, stores well, hardneck)

Hardneck varieties grow best in cold climates because they can withstand freezing temperatures. Softneck varieties are better for warmer climates because they don’t require a cold dormancy period to begin sprouting in early spring.

When to Plant Garlic

The timing of when to plant garlic varies based on your growing climate and which type of garlic you’re growing. Planting hardneck garlic varieties in the fall provides the necessary period of below-freezing temperatures so they’ll produce a bulb the following season. The optimal time for planting hardneck garlic is typically between September and November, after the first light frost.

Softneck garlic doesn’t require cold-stratification, and most varieties don’t tolerate temperatures below freezing. If your area has freezing winters, wait until early spring to plant softneck garlic. The plants can tolerate a light frost and produce a bulb more reliably when they get planted before springtime temperatures rise above 50°F.

Harvesting Homegrown Garlic

Garlic leaves begin to turn yellow around mid-summer. When about half of the leaves are yellow, it’s time to harvest your garlic bulbs. The harvest time is similar for softneck and hardneck garlic varieties.

For the best possible results, dig garlic bulbs out of the soil instead of trying to pull them up by hand. Be careful not to snap the stalk, as that causes problems for storage. Use a small trowel or garden fork to loosen the surrounding soil gently, and take care to avoid accidentally slicing into the garlic bulbs.

In early summer, hardneck garlic varieties produce edible flower stalks called scapes. Garlic scapes are ready to harvest once they start to form spirals. Cut the scape near its base where it emerges from the stem using a clean, sharp pair of garden shears or scissors.

Best Garlic Storage Methods

Garlic bulbs must get dried and cured for long-term storage. Don’t wash them or get the outer skin wet. Instead, simply brush off any remaining garden soil after harvesting. It’s best to keep the leaves and roots intact throughout the drying process.

Make a bundle of eight to ten garlic bulbs. Braid the stalks together or tie them loosely with twine. Hang your garlic bundles with the bulbs facing down in a cool, dark, dry location. Alternatively, lay them flat on a raised screen out of direct sunlight. Allow your homegrown garlic to cure for around three or four weeks.

Once they’re completely cured, gently remove the roots and stalks. Take care not to peel away any of the outer skin. If desired, you can also leave the stalks intact for storage. Store your garlic bulbs in a dry, well-ventilated place that stays between 55-60°F.

Softneck garlic varieties have a shelf life of six to eight months when stored properly. Hardneck varieties last for about three or four months. Check your stored garlic bulbs periodically to see if they’ve started sprouting or are going soft.

Grow Garlic for Companion Planting

Companion planting utilizes certain plants’ beneficial traits to support a healthy garden ecosystem. Garlic makes an outstanding companion for numerous other plants around the garden.

Herbs like chamomile and parsley reportedly improve garlic’s flavor, deter mosquitoes, and attract beneficial insects like ladybugs and native bees to your garden. Leafy greens like arugula, lettuce, and spinach have shallow root systems. They fit nicely between the garlic bulbs and act as a living mulch, helping to insulate the soil and suppress weed growth.

Allium plants like chives, garlic, leeks, onions, and shallots effectively repel common garden pests like aphids, cabbage worms, carrot flies, cucumber beetles, deer, and rodents with their pungent scent. Garlic is compatible with most other herbs and veggies, except for asparagus, beans, and peas. These plant groups are said to stunt one another’s growth.

Solutions for Common Plant Diseases

Although garlic is usually simple to grow, it’s always essential to monitor your plants for signs of distress. Prevention is the best approach for keeping your plants healthy. Crop rotation, companion planting, and removing diseased plants will help keep your vegetable garden healthy and thriving. Always sterilize your garden tools between uses to avoid accidentally spreading plant diseases.

White rot is a fungus that primarily attacks the garlic bulb. It first appears as a powdery white growth on the bulb and around the stalk base. As the disease advances, tiny black clusters of mycelium, called sclerotia, spread farther up the stalk. Over time, the leaves turn yellow and eventually die. White rot often gets introduced via contaminated plant material, compost, or potting soil. Organic copper or sulfur fungicides can treat white rot if applied early enough. If the disease is too advanced, immediately remove the infected plant, along with the several inches of the surrounding soil. This fungus will persist in the ground for a long time, so avoid planting alliums in that area for a minimum of three or four years.

Another fungal disease that affects alliums like garlic is botrytis neck rot. Initially, you’ll see a water-soaked ring around the base or neck of the garlic stem. As the infection spreads to the bulb, it attacks the inside first. The bulb’s outer layers often show purple discoloration, and the inner tissue turns brown or black. The bulbs may also develop grey mold during storage. Botrytis persists in wet, cool conditions, so avoid overwatering and provide adequate airflow. Treat the affected plants with an organic copper or sulfur fungicide.

Controlling Garlic Pests

While garlic works to deter a wide variety of pests, the plants occasionally get attacked by certain troublesome insects. However, rest assured that there are plenty of safe and natural remedies.

Nematodes are microscopic organisms. They live in soil and consume bacteria, fungi, mites, or plant tissue. Some nematodes are useful for pest control, but the ones that feed on plants’ roots are problematic. Although their feeding activity doesn’t always kill the plant directly, it frequently leads to infections that attack the damaged root tissue. Use targeted pesticides like Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to eliminate harmful nematodes from your garden soil.

Leek moth larvae can cause extensive damage to allium plants like garlic. They primarily feed on leaf tissue, but they sometimes burrow into the bulbs as well. Aside from hand-picking and destroying cocoons and larvae, organic insecticides like Spinosad and neem oil are effective against leek moth larvae.

Garlic is amazingly easy to grow in a container garden, raised beds, or a traditional veggie garden plot. The delicious rewards make all your efforts worthwhile. Grow garlic in full sun and make sure your garden soil drains well and is rich in nutrients. Choose healthy seed bulbs for planting, or try growing garlic cloves from the supermarket that sprout on your kitchen counter (be sure to disinfect them first.) Harvest homegrown garlic in late summer once at least half of the leaves have turned yellow.

Do you have any questions or suggestions about planting garlic? Please share them in the comments! If you found these gardening tips useful, please consider sharing this article about how to grow garlic with your fellow gardeners.