A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum HOW DO I PLANT GARLIC?

I never did know how to raise garlic.........
Someone gave me cloves last fall.....I planted them Octobe.
Had to move them today......and they were only about the size of a nickle.
When are they supposed to get large/

Mine never did ......

havest in the fall I believe.

They was doing well but ..I dont know.. Someone said pull them in July.
Others said plant 2 times a year....All I know is mine never do it right.

b

I tried some last year but planted them when it was still too hot. they didn't do well at all. all I can remember is your supposed to plant the largest healthiest cloves and they like the cool weather.

Close enough......LOL I was just guessing.

How do you know when garlic and onions are ready to harvest.

Beats me......Thought mine was and they looked like onion sets.LOL
b

Onions and garlic are easy to grow and easy to tell when to pick. Onion greens flop over completely. Withhold water if you plan to store and let them sit a few days if dry out. Then pull them and dry in a windy, dry, warm place until the skin hardens.

Garlic is ready when the greens turn hard and brown. Sometimes the heads don't get that big really. You have to grow the garlic that is right for your area and give it lots of nutrition, space, water and time. By late summer the greens are brown and dry and you can tell they are ready. Hardneck garlic is what I grow in the north.

Mine grew alright.........Just not like a garlic......LOL
One of thes days.
onions grow like grass for me....

Thank you Tamara.

Plant in fall, harvest in July. At least on the N.E. coast!

When about HALF the leaves turn brown. Usually in July in the N.E.

Ha ha ha ha

I planted in the fall .THis is end of June all I got was size of onion sets..ha ha

So I replanted them to haunt me...

Thanks...Nothing works for a Pollock........

growing garlic is easy. Plant garlic cloves in the Fall when you are preparing your garden for the winter. I try to do it in October before it get's too cold, but I've done it as late as the end of November.

Use the 3x rule for depth: plant seeds (in this case the clove) to a depth that is 3x the height of the seed. I plant cloves 4-6" apart in rows that are 1' apart. Once it's planted, just leave it be. Garlic needs cold to develop good roots, so it'll be more difficult to grow in areas above zone 7.

Garlic is the first thing that shows up in the spring even when snow is still on the ground. So you don't need to remember where you planted it.

I pretty much ignore it unless I have to water or until it's time to cut the scapes. Mine are looking very nice now. The plants are pretty tall now, and I've got to cut the scapes soon. (More on that in another post.) I'll try to post some pics soon.

Hare are some hints to harvesting. Harvest when the bottom leaves are brown and there are still at least 3 green leaves on top. Each leaf represents a layer of skin around your bulb. The theory is the longer you wait, the bigger the bulb, but when a leaf turns brown, that layer will begin decomposing around your bulb. If you wait until all the leaves are brown, you can still harvest the garlic, but it may break into cloves as you dig it up, and it will not store as well.

Here's an example of a hard neck garlic pulled too late. If you wait too long, the wrapper around the cloves will decompose too exposing the clove to the elements.


Here are picts from a previous year's harvest. I wanted to get pictures of the bulbs, so you don't get to see the green leaves on top.


In the past five years, I've had really good garlic crops. This year looks to be as good if not the best.

Planted mine last fall.....
Took them out abut 2 weeks ag0.. No bigger than an onion set.
I think wrong brand?

Thanks for all the info.

Dodge, It sounds like something didn't go so well. Where did you get the garlic you planted? Where did you plant it: full sun, partial shade, etc?

California garlic and somewhere else.
SOme in sun some not..Part.

I get winter here .

Oh well neighbors gave me some it was small too>

I really dont need it .

Thanks