Time to Plant Garlic

I’m a flower farmer but the one thing that I also let into my commercial garden is garlic. I LOVE garlic. It is easy and SO FUN to grow. Plus, once you’ve tried it fresh from your garden there is no going back to store-bought.

Freshly harvested garlic from the Turnstone Farm gardens.

Hopefully, after reading through these easy steps, you too will find BIG success with growing garlic.

But before we begin let’s do a brief garlic primer! So that we’re all on the same page, here are some basic garlic definitions.

A HEAD of garlic is the entire bundle that is made up of 2+ cloves.

A CLOVE is the individual piece of garlic that you would peel before cooking.

SOFTNECK garlic is a variety typically grown in more southern climates. Each head has many cloves and it is easily braided together into those quintessential garlic braids (maybe you’ve seen these at markets or in your grandma’s kitchen!?).

HARDNECK garlic is the best variety for Alaskan growing. It tends to produce fewer but larger cloves than softneck.

Garlic emerging in the early summer.

Ok, now on to the fun stuff. Here are 4 easy steps to successful garlic growing:

1) Prep your site: I like to start by clearing any old garden remnants and weeds, then adding any amendments like compost or soil nutrients that you may need. A comprehensive soil test will give you all the necessary info here. Loosen the soil with a broadfork or pitchfork.

2) Make your rows. I plant 4 rows to a 2.5ft wide bed. Dig a shallow trench about 3-4 inches deep with a flat-ended shovel.

3) Plant garlic. Place garlic cloves in the ground, about 3 inches deep with the pointy side pointing up. There is no need to peel the garlic clove but you do need to separate it from the garlic head (each head holds 2+ cloves).

4) Mulch. Mulching will protect the garlic cloves from any freeze-thaw action that occurs in the fall or spring.

NOTE, if you ordered seed garlic and it’s not here yet, don’t despair! MULCH your beds now to keep the soil insulated until you’re ready to plant.

Easy, right?! Now go do some planting. Your future self will thank you :)

In general, you will have the most success planting at any point from mid-September through mid-October. Although I have planted in early November in a pinch.

Lush garlic plants in the Turnstone Farm garden.