How to Grow Garlic: A Dirt-Under-Your-Fingernails Approach to Cultivating the Stinking Rose
I've been growing garlic for nearly two decades now, and I still get a little thrill every July when I pull those papery bulbs from the earth. There's something almost magical about planting a single clove in October and harvesting a whole head of garlic the following summer. It's one of those garden miracles that never gets old.
The first time I grew garlic, I made every mistake in the book. Planted grocery store bulbs (terrible idea), watered them like tomatoes (they hated it), and harvested them way too early because I got impatient. The resulting bulbs were so small and sad, I could have used them as pearl onions. But here's the thing about garlic – it's surprisingly forgiving once you understand what it actually wants.
The October Revolution in Your Garden
Garlic operates on its own timeline, completely ignoring our typical spring-planting mentality. This Mediterranean native evolved to grow through cool, wet winters and mature during hot, dry summers. In most of North America, that means planting in fall – specifically, about 4-6 weeks before your ground typically freezes solid.
I remember the first autumn I planted garlic properly. My neighbor thought I'd lost my mind, out there tucking cloves into the soil while she was pulling up her frost-killed tomatoes. "What are you planting NOW?" she asked, genuinely concerned. When I showed her my garlic harvest the following July, she became a convert.
The timing matters because garlic needs a period of cold – what we call vernalization – to form proper bulbs. Without at least 40 days below 40°F, you'll end up with what looks like a green onion on steroids rather than a proper bulb. This is why grocery store garlic, often grown in warm climates, performs so poorly in northern gardens.
Choosing Your Varieties (Or: Why Grocery Store Garlic Is a Terrible Idea)
Walk into any garden center in September, and you'll likely see bins of garlic bulbs for planting. But here's where things get interesting – and where most new garlic growers make their first mistake. Not all garlic is created equal.
There are two main types: hardneck and softneck. Hardnecks are the aristocrats of the garlic world – complex flavors, easy to peel, but somewhat prima donna-ish about growing conditions. They produce a flowering stalk called a scape (more on that delicious bonus later) and generally prefer colder climates. Varieties like Music, German Extra Hardy, and Chesnok Red fall into this category.
Softnecks are the workhorses – they store longer, tolerate warmer climates better, and this is what you usually find braided at farmers markets. California Early and Inchelium Red are popular softneck varieties. They don't produce scapes, which some might see as a downside, but they often produce more cloves per bulb.
I grow both types, but I'll admit a preference for hardnecks. The flavor complexity is worth the slightly shorter storage life. Plus, those scapes in June? They're like a gardener's secret vegetable – delicious grilled, made into pesto, or chopped into stir-fries.
Soil Preparation: Building a Garlic Paradise
Garlic is surprisingly picky about soil. It wants what I call "goldilocks conditions" – not too heavy, not too light, not too wet, not too dry. The ideal is a well-draining loam with plenty of organic matter. If you've got heavy clay (like I started with), you'll need to amend it significantly.
My breakthrough came when I started thinking of garlic beds like raised lasagna. In late summer, I layer compost, aged manure, and chopped leaves about 6 inches high. By planting time in October, it's settled into a rich, fluffy bed that garlic roots can easily penetrate. The organic matter also helps with the drainage issue – crucial because garlic bulbs will rot faster than you can say "forty cloves and a chicken" if they sit in waterlogged soil.
One somewhat controversial opinion I hold: forget the traditional advice about working the soil 12 inches deep. Garlic roots rarely go beyond 6-8 inches. Save your back and focus on making the top 8 inches absolutely perfect.
The Art of Planting
Here's where garlic growing becomes almost meditative. On a crisp October afternoon, I separate the bulbs into individual cloves, keeping the papery wrapper intact. Only the biggest, healthiest cloves get planted – the runts go into that night's dinner.
Plant them pointy end up (this matters more than you'd think) about 2 inches deep in cold climates, slightly shallower in warmer areas. Space them 4-6 inches apart. I've experimented with closer spacing to maximize yield, but the bulbs just get smaller. Garlic needs elbow room.
After planting, I mulch heavily – about 4 inches of straw or chopped leaves. This serves triple duty: insulation for winter, weed suppression for spring, and moisture retention for summer. In my early gardening days, I skipped the mulch. Big mistake. I spent the following June on my hands and knees, weeding around delicate garlic shoots.
The Long Winter's Nap
Once planted and mulched, garlic requires absolutely nothing from you until spring. This is the beauty of fall planting – the garden puts itself to bed. Under the soil, those cloves are busy growing roots, preparing for their spring sprint.
I used to worry about my garlic through winter, especially during brutal cold snaps or January thaws. Turns out, garlic is tougher than a two-dollar steak. I've had it survive -20°F winters and emerge green and happy come March. The only real winter danger is if you get a warm spell that tricks the garlic into sprouting, followed by a hard freeze. The mulch helps prevent this.
Spring Awakening
The first green shoots pushing through the mulch in early spring never fail to make me smile. It's like the garden's way of saying, "Hey, I'm still alive under here!" This is when garlic growing gets more active.
As soon as the shoots are about 6 inches tall, I side-dress with compost or a balanced organic fertilizer. Garlic is what we call a "heavy feeder" – it needs nutrients to size up properly. I learned this the hard way my first few years, wondering why my garlic was so puny despite perfect planting and watering.
Spring is also when you need to start thinking about water. Garlic needs consistent moisture during its rapid growth phase (April through early June in most areas). About an inch per week is ideal, whether from rain or irrigation. But – and this is crucial – you need to start backing off on water as harvest approaches. Too much water in the last few weeks can lead to bulbs that don't store well.
The Great Scape Debate
Come late May or early June, hardneck varieties will send up a flower stalk – the scape. This curly, whimsical stem wants to flower and produce bulbils (tiny garlic clones). The conventional wisdom says to cut these off to redirect energy to bulb development.
I mostly follow this advice, but not religiously. Yes, removing scapes can increase bulb size by 25-30%. But I've also left them on certain plants with no catastrophic results. The bulbs are slightly smaller, but you get the architectural interest of the curled scapes and eventual flowers. Plus, those bulbils can be planted (though they take 2-3 years to produce full-sized bulbs).
When I do harvest scapes, it's a kitchen celebration. They're best when still curled but before they straighten out. Grilled with olive oil and salt, they're like garlic-flavored asparagus. I've converted many a garlic scape skeptic with a simple scape and white bean dip.
The Harvest Dance
Knowing when to harvest garlic is part science, part art, and part nerve-wracking guesswork. The general rule is to harvest when the bottom leaves have browned but there are still 5-6 green leaves on top. In my garden, that's usually mid-July, but I've seen it vary by three weeks depending on the spring weather.
Here's my method: starting in early July, I dig up a test bulb every few days. I'm looking for fully formed cloves with tight, papery wrappers. Too early, and the cloves won't have separated properly. Too late, and the wrappers start to deteriorate, reducing storage life.
The actual harvest is one of my favorite garden tasks. I use a garden fork, working carefully to avoid spearing bulbs (yes, I've done it, and yes, it's heartbreaking). The smell of fresh garlic mixed with warm soil is intoxicating. Each bulb that emerges intact feels like unwrapping a present.
Curing: The Secret to Long Storage
Fresh garlic is delicious but won't last. Proper curing is what transforms fresh bulbs into storage champions. I hang my garlic in bundles of 5-10 in my garage – good airflow, warm temperatures, and no direct sun. Some people use elaborate braiding techniques. I've tried it, but I'm more interested in eating garlic than making it look pretty.
After 3-4 weeks, the necks should be completely dry and the outer wrappers papery. At this point, I trim the roots and cut the stems to about an inch. The bulbs go into mesh bags and into my basement, where they'll keep for 6-9 months (hardnecks) or up to a year (softnecks).
The Perpetual Garlic Garden
Here's the beautiful thing about garlic: once you start growing it, you never have to buy seed garlic again. Save your biggest, best bulbs for replanting. Over time, your garlic will adapt to your specific growing conditions, becoming your own landrace variety.
I've been replanting from my own stock for over a decade now. My "house garlic" (as I call it) consistently outperforms any purchased varieties in my garden. It's perfectly adapted to my soil, my climate, my garden's quirks.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Let me save you from some of the mistakes I've made. First, the grocery store garlic temptation. I know it's cheap and readily available, but it's usually treated with growth inhibitors and poorly adapted to cold climates. Spend the money on proper seed garlic – you only need to do it once.
Second, the patience problem. Garlic takes nine months from planting to harvest. There's no speeding it up. I've tried spring planting (tiny bulbs), greenhouse growing (all leaves, no bulb), and every shortcut imaginable. Just embrace the slow timeline.
Third, the water dilemma. Too much water in spring stunts growth. Too much near harvest causes rot and splitting. Too little any time results in small bulbs. It's a balancing act that takes a few seasons to master.
Beyond the Bulb
Growing garlic opens up culinary possibilities beyond the bulb itself. Green garlic (harvested early, used like scallions) is a farmers market delicacy. Garlic scapes, as mentioned, are a bonus crop. Even garlic leaves are edible when young and tender.
I've also discovered the joy of garlic's ornamental relatives. Society garlic, with its pretty purple flowers, edges my perennial beds. Wild garlic carpets a shady corner of my yard. Once you start growing garlic, you notice alliums everywhere.
The Philosophy of Garlic
There's something profound about growing garlic. It requires planning, patience, and faith. You plant in fall, trusting that spring will come. You water and feed in spring, trusting that bulbs are forming underground. You harvest in summer, already planning for the next year's crop.
In our instant-gratification world, garlic teaches different lessons. It can't be rushed. It follows its own timeline. It rewards patience and punishes impatience. Every July, when I harvest my garlic, I'm reminded that the best things in life – and in the garden – are worth waiting for.
Growing garlic has made me a better gardener overall. It's taught me to think in seasons rather than weeks, to trust the process even when I can't see results, and to appreciate the profound satisfaction of growing a kitchen staple from scratch. Plus, I haven't bought garlic in fifteen years, and my cooking has never been better.
So this October, take the plunge. Order some good seed garlic, prepare a bed, and join the ranks of garlic growers. By next July, you'll be pulling up your own bulbs, marveling at how a single clove became a whole head, and planning what varieties to try next year. Because once you start growing garlic, you never really stop.
Authoritative Sources:
Engeland, Ron L. Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers. Filaree Productions, 1991.
Meredith, Ted Jordan. The Complete Book of Garlic: A Guide for Gardeners, Growers, and Serious Cooks. Timber Press, 2008.
Oregon State University Extension Service. "Growing Garlic in Your Home Garden." Oregon State University, extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/vegetables/growing-garlic-your-home-garden.
Cornell University Cooperative Extension. "Garlic Production." Cornell University, cvp.cce.cornell.edu/crop/allium/garlic.php.
University of Minnesota Extension. "Growing Garlic in Minnesota." University of Minnesota, extension.umn.edu/vegetables/growing-garlic.
United States Department of Agriculture. "Commercial Garlic Production." USDA National Agricultural Library, nal.usda.gov/agriculture-production/commercial-garlic-production.