Growing Garlic: Fall Planting, Soil Prep & Harvest Signals

Garlic is low-maintenance, high-reward. Plant cloves in fall for summer harvest.

Timing & Source

Buy bulbs at nursery (not grocery). Plant 6 weeks before ground freezes. Mild climates: Jan/Feb for fall harvest.

Full sun. pH 6.2–6.8 ideal (tolerates 5.0–8.0). Dig 8–12″, amend heavily with compost.

Largest cloves only, pointy end up, 2″ deep, 5″ apart (elephant garlic: 3″/10″). Discard moldy (blue-green) cloves.

Compost top-dress, mulch for moisture/weeds. Re-mulch after freeze. Spring: remove mulch, spray compost tea 1–2×.

1″/week until tops yellow. Cut scapes (flower stalks) for bigger bulbs. Clip leaves sparingly (≤¼).

When ¾ tops yellow. Cure 2 weeks warm, dry. Store cool (60°F), 80% humidity.

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