Garlic is an easy-to-grow crop that’s harvested in midsummer and usually planted in the fall. Harvest when the tops just begin to yellow and fall over! See all our tips on growing garlic.
Rather than risk getting subpar garlic from the grocery store, try growing your own! It’s an easy and rewarding crop to grow at home.
Beyond its intense flavor and culinary uses, “the stinking rose” is also good in the garden as an insect repellent and has been used for centuries as a home remedy.
See our video on growing garlic from planting to harvesting.
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S E alaska growing
i leave for winter in sept which i think is too early to plant so what i do is come back in march and chip holes in the frozen dirt and plant.i know its a bit unorthodox but works great every year.
Garlic
I have grown garlic for many years. Especially when I lived in the more Northern parts of Pennsylvania, now that I'm in the more Central part of Pennsylvania my garlic doesn't grow quite as well. It could very possibly be the soil. I'm in a more wooded area now, BUT I'll keep trying.
GREAT ARTICLE you have on Garlic
USING GARLIC SCAPES IN COOKING - RENFREW, ONT. CANADA
When it comes time to using my garlic scapes, I make a pesto out of them.
1 cup GARLIC SCAPES - CUT INTO 1" PIECES
1/2 cup FRESH BASIL LEAVES
1/3 cup SLICED ALMONDS OR CHOPPED WALNUTS
1/2 cup EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
1/2 cup GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE
1/2 teaspoon LEMON JUICE
SEA SALT and CRACKED BLACK PEPPER, to taste
METHOD:
1) In a food processor, process the garlic scapes and basil for 30 seconds.
2) Add the nuts and process for another 30 seconds.
3) Slowly drizzle in the olive oil as you continue to run the food processor.
4) Add in the parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix and taste, adjusting salt and pepper, as desired.
- I use this pesto when making a pasta salad, with mayo and add warm jumbo shrimp, REALLY GOOD!
- Use the pesto when adding a topping to pizza
- As a favourite, I mix this pesto with feta cheese, and fried sausage and use this combination to stuff large mushroom caps, DELICIOUS!
- Mix this pesto with ground beef and make really yummy burgers!
Whatever you do, with the scapes, it's a real treat, before you get your main harvest! Just enjoy all the work you put into your gardens. Lots of trials and tribulations but we will learn from the whole fun of the hobby, or lifestyle. There will be rewards of your dirt, sweat and tears, if you keep trying and be patient with yourself and the mistakes you make, along the way. I still have lots to learn, but as long as I'm able to work the soil, I will continue to enjoy, whatever shows green and produces. Have fun!
Growing garlic
This is my first year growing garlic, I cut my scapes and chew on them when I weed a my garden, hope the bulbs are as good as the scapes!
How to grow Garlic.
The page is very helpful for beginners! Looking forward to learn more from you. Thanks.
Cut the scapes, harvest on time
I planted a couple dozen cloves in the Fall 2018 and they all grew very vigorously last spring. Unfortunately I left the scape on them which diminishes proper formation of the bulb, and I left them in the ground too long which disintegrated the paper skin. I was still able to salvage some but it was definitely a learning lesson. Last fall 2019 I planted about 4 or 5 dozen cloves of various varieties and am looking forward to a prolific harvest this summer. Very excited.
Garlic
We planted garlic last year for the first time and it was suggested we keep the garlic in the ground for one more year to grow larger bulbs. Is this a viable suggestion?
I CAN SEE YOU!
What would happen if you let the flowers matures? What happens? Do they form a new garlic bulb, not a clone but a sexual offspring?
Planting garlic from garlic
I live in northern Nevada, about 4200 elevation. I thought I would try to grow some garlic this year. I bought a large head of organic garlic and planted 2 cloves in late May, within a week, they were sprouting, it is now July 9, about 90 degrees out and they are about 10” tall. They have numerous (leaves) on them. Can you tell me what those are? All the mature garlic I have seen has only one stem. When would I be able to harvest them?
Thank you.
garlic harvest time
I’m not sure what the numerous leaves are – usually garlic has one stem, but many leaves that form off of that, upwards along the stalk. Sometimes multiples shoots may form if the bulb or shoots were exposed to temperatures that were too cold (around 10 degrees F or below) in early spring. If yours have cold damage, I’m not sure what that means for the harvest. In colder climates, spring planting usually yields smaller bulbs, versus fall planting, so you might not get bulbs as plump as you might expect anyway. Depending on weather and bulb variety, the harvest time may vary. In general, when the leaves of the plant are about ⅓ to ½ brown, the bulbs are usually ready. Check a bulb or two; if the cloves fill the skin, your crop is likely ready.
Garlic
I plant with seeds?
Great group on facebook to join is Kenosha Garlic collectors.
Kenosha Garlic collectors is a great group to discuss garlic planting, and varieties. Global group for anyone interested in growing.
Garlic
I want to know more about garlic
Dividing and Re-planting Volunteer Garlic
I discovered garlic sprouting in a bed from last year. It's sporadic and cloves are clumped together. It's April in Central Oregon and soil is workable. Can I pop them out, divide and replant? Other than small bulb size, any risks to this? Also, is it true if you clip the greens, the bulbs will get bigger or does that apply mostly when it gets to the scape phase? Thank you!
Garlic in intertropical weather
Hi,I’m brazilian and I live in the countryside...I started my garlic plantation in the end of my summer(now it’s autumn season),owing to my in unawareness of the seasons importance :(
Now I know that garlic should be planted in places that are colder than my city,how should I proceed with watering and harvesting and everything?I live in Presidente Prudente,which I believe the hot season is about 6,2 months and the medium temperature is 30 celsius.I beg your pardon for my english,it’s been about a year I don’t write anything.I appreciate a lot this site and I hope you can help me!Thank you since now!Bye!
Garlic
Planted my garlic and mulched. My garlic is 6 inches above the mulch and temps are forecasted for single digits? Will it hurt the garlic?
garllic poking up
The greens that are poking up with be frozen and die back but that should not affect the bulbs long term. Mulch more! Several inches—6!—is not too much. You can use fallen leaves; the mulch doesn’t have to be fancy (storebought).
Garlic growing in tropical claiment
Am a Ugandan in tropical claiment and my land is not far from the crossing of equetor.... Some season tend to be hot in some years and some time the rain normalises to it's normal meaning that some time a need to irrigate arises.but the soil is black and firtile for serial crops and legumes. Then also coffee and some fruits works better only that today coffee is not dependable due to some deseases which affected the production. I need to start a new crop which accoding to me ,garlic can work fompr me...
Please advise. Thank you!
I peeled my garlic before I planted it.
I know now it was a mistake. Will they grow? Should I dig up 70 plantings? I have had three years of fabulous garlic. This year one came out of the skin. I asked my sister if it’s ok to plant without skin and she said it was. I wasn’t thinking when I peeled them all and planted.
skinless cloves
Your garlic may get a chill sooner than “normal” without its skin but there is no reason to think it will not grow into nice heads.
Forgot to mention
I am in Manchester. North West England.
Garlic
I planted my garlic just this week. I am in Manchester. It is already throwing up shoots. Is this OK? Will I lose my garlic? My over wintering onions are the same. Hope you can help.
Thanks.
throwing up shoots
Spread a few inches of mulch over your garlic. Presumably, if you get a reasonable facsimile of winter (not familiar with usual conditions), your garlic will do just fine. When spring comes in, push off the mulch.
Do the same for the onions.
Watering Garlic
Hi! Thanks for this article! Very helpful. I am very new to gardening and will start my garlic this weekend (zone 8) I do container gardening. I just have one question: once I plant my garlic do I water it then and not again until spring?? Fertilize with seaweed fertilizer and not again until May? Any help? Thanks!
container garlic
Set it into the container and put the container outside, buried in soil to rim level, if possible. If it’s not buried, and there is a freezing rain in Jan or Feb, the bulbs might freeze and never sprout. You can water it; it won’t now if the water came from you or the sky. You can skip the fertilizer until spring. Just get the container outdoors, in the ground, if possible. If you try to grow it indoors, it might 1) rot 2) dry up.
GARLIC HARVESTING
Thanks for the message.After harvesting,it is advised to cure the bulbs in a shade for 2 weeks,also the bulbs are supposed to hang them top down.Now,how and what simple tools are used in hanging the bulbs and what are the side effects if I fail to hang the bulbs/garlic?
Worms in garlic
When harvesting this Spring (I live in Louisiana), I found tiny white worms in two bulbs (one in each bulb.) I had a good harvest, so I discarded those bulbs; but, I've wondered what type of worm would be a pest in garlic! Do you have any idea?
garlic pests
Sometimes garlic can get the same pests as onions do, such as the onion maggot, which, in larval stage, is a white tapered maggot about ¼ inch long. The adult looks sort of like a small gray housefly. Perhaps that was the pest you saw? Usually, they aren’t a serious pest of garlic, but you can discourage them by rotating crops, using row covers, and cleaning up plant debris in fall.
Garlic seeds from top of plant
Can I plant the garlic seeds from the top of the stem in the fall to grow over winter?
garlic from seed
If by “seeds” you mean the bulbils at the top of the stem (that sort of look like mini bulbs) and often referred to as seeds, then yes, you can plant them in fall or spring. If you plant in spring, they will need to have a cold treatment first (place in a breathable bag in the fridge for a few weeks).
If you mean true seeds, you can save the true seeds, but they may not produce plants that are like the parent; the cloves or bulbils are what will be true to type. Not all garlic produces seeds, and those that do produce flowers, may not produce viable seed. If your seed heads are developing, but not mature, then you’ll need to sacrifice harvesting the bulb to let the seed head mature for seeds (which are harvested around October or so), or you can sever the seed stalk (scape) at the base of the plant and place it in water in a sunny location in the hope that it may still mature. It’s best to remove the bulbils early on from the scape (both bulbils and flowers will form at the top of the flower scape) to encourage better seed development from the flowers. The harvested seeds need a cold treatment before they are sown; you can place them in the refrigerator for a month or so over winter. When you sow the seeds in spring, it is likely that the germination rate will be very low for that first generation; successive generations improve. Also, that first round tends to produce problem plants, such as weaker or misshapen, but there’s also the possibility of some with desirable characteristics that you can go on to save further seed or cloves. Garlic is fussy, and has evolved so that it reproduces by cloves or bulbils more often than by seed, so propagating it this way may be a challenge, but could also be a fun experiment! Good luck!
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