Let’s plant some garlic!

If you have never grown your own garlic before, it can be a really fun and rewarding crop that’s easy to plant right in your own backyard. The garlic you get at the grocery store is a head that’s made up of 10-20 individual cloves. Did you know that each of the cloves can be planted to grow an entirely new head of garlic?

This fall-planted bulb will hang out through the winter in your garden and then finish its growth in the coming spring. While it can be as simple as going to the store, buying garlic, breaking it into cloves and then planting them and watching them grow, there is a little more to know if you really want to get into growing a lot of your own garlic successfully.

First, there are two main types of garlic. You may have noticed if you cook with fresh garlic that when you break apart a head sometimes there is a center stick in the middle of the head that all of the cloves form around, and sometimes there is not. The garlic with the stick in the center is called hardneck garlic.

Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck garlic typically has a stronger flavor, but is less commonly seen in stores year-round because it also has a shorter shelf life. We can technically grow hardneck garlic here in the Sandhills region of North Carolina, but your success will depend on the specific variety as it generally is better suited for colder climates.

Softneck garlic is what you will more commonly find at the grocery store.

Softneck Garlic

When broken open, all of the cloves are connected to each other and have no center support within the garlic head. Because of this, they have a more flexible stem and are typically the kind of garlic that you will see braided in long chains for storage. Softneck garlic will do better in our climate and once harvested and dried properly, it can be stored for almost a year!

Garlic Chain

So, how do you plant your garlic once you’ve broken apart all of the cloves? First, it doesn’t matter if the papery wrapper is left on them or not. You’ll want to figure out which is the top and bottom of each clove- typically the top will be pointy and the bottom will have a flattened darker area where the roots were growing.

Upright garlic clove

Find a place where you get full sun (at least 6 hours per day) and good drainage- garlic doesn’t want to have wet soil around it all the time. Plant each clove 1-3 inches deep and 4-8 inches apart. If you are planting them in raised beds or pots, make sure the cloves are also 4-8 inches away from the edge of the bed or container to prevent slowing or limiting their growth. Garlic likes some fertilizer to feed it as it develops.

If you have ever studied a fertilizer label, you might remember a set of three numbers. Each of the three numbers plays an important role in the development of a plant.

An easy simplification I use to help me remember is that the first number is for lots of green leafy growth. The middle number is for roots, flowers and fruit production, and the third number is to help strengthen the plant against disease and weather.

Garlic will want some of everything, but since you’re trying to get it to make a big bulb under the ground, having a little extra phosphorus to help with root development would be good. So, look for a higher middle number in the ratio of three on your fertilizer bag.

The ideal time to plant garlic is now until the end of November. After watching your plants grow all winter, how will you know when to harvest them in the spring?

I like to wait until the bottom few leaves have turned yellow or even brown. Don’t be afraid to dig one up and check- you can always replant it if it’s not ready. When you are ready to harvest, pick a dry day and make sure they haven’t been watered recently to make drying and storage easier. Then it’s time to enjoy the fresh taste of all of your hard work and keep the Vampires away!

Dont throw those tops away!

Check out this awesome recipe for Garlic Scape Pesto !

Happy Spooky Season!