Garlic is one of my favorite things to grow, and with these tips and tricks you’ll be able to grow, harvest, preserve, and prepare your own!
Garlic is a special crop. You plant it in the fall, but won’t harvest it until late the next spring or early summer. That can be a bit tricky if you have limited garden space. When you’re ready to fill every inch of soil with lettuces and brassicas in the spring, you still have those garlic bulbs hanging out, just beginning to really take off. But that’s alright, because, garrrrlic… we love garlic, and add it to a ton of our dishes.
Prepare Your Soil
We started this year’s garlic all the way back in October. Aerating and fertilizing the soil. Clearing out the tomato markers that had been left behind. I’d like to note, for the sake of full transparency, I skimped a little on the fertilizer this year and it definitely showed. Garlic loves nitrogen, and won’t really thrive without it. It will probably still grow, but may look a bit spindly and anemic, and not produce very substantial bulbs.
Learn from my mistakes, won’t you?
Hardneck vs. Softneck
There are two main types of garlic: hardneck and softneck.
Hardneck garlic is said to peel more easily and have more robust flavor than their softnecked cousins. Hardneck also produces a flowering central stem, called a scape. In the spring, the hardneck variety will shoot up scapes, which are the tubular center stalks. You want to trim these so that the plants focus their energy on bulb production, rather than flower production. This creates larger and more flavorful garlic at harvest time.
Scapes are actually a delicious treat in themselves. They can be sautéed, chopped for compound butter, pickled, and even ground for pesto!
Softneck garlic has tinier cloves than hardneck, but tends to produce more per bulb. Hardneck has fewer, but larger cloves. Softneck garlic also tends to store for longer than hardneck, lasting for nine to twelve months, rather than the six-ish you can expect from the hardneck variety.
I chose to plant hard neck garlic this year because I wanted to harvest the scapes, but I’m thinking next year I may just have to plant both. Hardneck for scapes and to use more quickly in short-term storage, and softneck for braiding and long-term use.
Looks like I need more garden beds. *insert evil laugh*
Planting Garlic
Planting garlic is really simple, and a small amount can produce a significant harvest.
Planting takes place in fall. October works best for my climate (zone 7b).
First, you begin by separating each clove in the bulb. There can be up to ten or 12 cloves in each bulb, and each of those cloves produces its own clove when planted. This means that planting the cloves from 6 bulbs of garlic could yield upward of 60 cloves!
You want to remove the papery outer skin that covers the entire bulb, but leave the skin on the individual cloves because it helps to inhibit the premature growth of a sprout before the roots have had a chance to properly form.
Then, each clove will be planted knuckle deep with the pointy end facing up, blunt root end facing down. They should be 6-8 inches apart to allow the bulbs room to grow. You don’t want them too close together.
We mulch ours with leaves to inhibit weed growth and lock nutrients into the soil, and add more leaves as they become sparse or blow away.
Harvesting Garlic
Garlic Scapes
In the spring, the plants will shoot up scapes, which are the tubular center stalks. You want to trim them so that the plants focus their energy on bulb production, rather than flower production.
Scapes are actually a delicious treat in themselves. They can be sautéed, chopped for compound butter, pickled, and even ground for pesto!
A couple of weeks after you harvest your scapes, when the bulbs have had a chance to really beef up, it’s time to harvest! You’ll notice the bottom leaves beginning to turn brown.
I actually waited a wee bit too long. You can see that my plants were getting crunchy and a few of the bulbs were actually beginning to separate. That’s alright, I just set those specific bulbs aside to use first.
Curing Garlic
After the harvest is complete, it’s time to cure your garlic. You can do this by hanging them, or by laying them in a single layer on a screen. I just snagged an old screen door from my Dad’s shop, then propped it on two sawhorses in a shady spot on my front porch and spread my garlic out in a single layer on it. You want your garlic to stay dry, and out of too much direct sunlight. This curing process allows that outer layer of skin to shrink and release moisture, which makes for a longer storage window.
After a few weeks, you can remove the leaves. Unless you grew softneck and intend to braid them. Hardneck garlic will keep for anywhere from 4-8 months, whereas softneck can last for up to a year!
Some of My Favorite Recipes Using Garlic
Where to Purchase Your Garlic
I have purchased my garlic bulbs for planting from several different companies over the years with varying success. My standout favorite company is Keene Organics. Their website is loaded with information on varying types of garlic, tips for growing them, and awesome recipes. I have had the greatest success in my garlic yield, both in size and flavor, since using this company. They do sell out though, so another option would be Territorial Seed Company. I haven’t used them personally, but have friends who have and are pleased with their products.
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