How to Plant Garlic in Fall (Complete Beginner’s Guide, Planting to Harvest)..., by The Garden Reply on YouTube. 55 min 28 s.
- Video length
- 55 min 28 s
- Time to do it
- 45 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 10
What you need
Steps
Pick a spot that gets full sun and has loose, well-drained soil. Dig in 2 to 3 inches of compost a few weeks before your first hard frost.
Buy seed garlic from a nursery or catalog instead of using grocery store bulbs, which may be treated to stop them sprouting.
Break the bulb into single cloves a day or two before planting. Keep the papery skin on and choose the biggest cloves.
Push each clove into the soil 2 to 3 inches deep with the pointy end up and the flat root end down.
Space the cloves 4 to 6 inches apart, leaving about 12 inches between rows so the plants have room.
Water the bed well after planting to settle the soil around the cloves.
Wait until the ground starts to freeze, then spread 4 to 6 inches of straw or shredded leaves over the whole bed.
Pull the mulch back in early spring when green shoots show. Water about 1 inch a week and pull weeds as they appear.
Cut the curled scapes in early summer so energy goes into the bulbs, and stop watering about two weeks before harvest.
Dig the bulbs when the bottom leaves turn brown. Cure them in a dry, airy spot for 2 to 3 weeks, then store in a cool, dark place.
Tips and common mistakes
Plant 4 to 6 weeks before the ground freezes so roots form without much top growth.
In mild climates, chill seed garlic in the fridge for 4 to 6 weeks before planting to mimic a cold winter.
Do not plant garlic where garlic or onions grew last year, because white rot can live in the soil for years.
Save your largest, healthiest bulbs each summer to replant the next fall and skip buying seed garlic.
Questions
What if I missed the fall planting window?
Plant as soon as the soil can be worked, even in early winter. The bulbs will be smaller, but you will still get a crop, and spring planting works in mild climates.
Can I plant garlic from the grocery store?
It often fails. Store bulbs may be sprayed to stop sprouting and can carry soil-borne disease. Buy labeled seed garlic instead.
Which end of the clove faces up?
The pointy tip goes up and the flat, firm base where the roots form goes down. Plant it 2 to 3 inches deep.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
