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How to Plant & Grow Fall Garlic

This past weekend, in between the fall rains I made some time to plant my garlic. Around this part of the country, it’s said that garlic should go in the ground around Columbus Day, which is next weekend. Being a little early shouldn’t hurt at all since I won’t have the opportunity to get to it next weekend. I love the tradition of planting fall garlic, it’s one of the major parts of closing down the garden for the year, but instead of just pulling up browned, and wasted plants it is refreshing to put new life into the ground. When spring comes the tender green tips of garlic will be one of the first things to pop up into the garden marking the beginning of the growing season.

I think growing garlic is important because so much of the garlic that we find in stores is imported from places like China, and treated with tons of chemicals, including bleach to make it very white and appealing to the eye. This is not the type of garlic I prefer to put into my food. Home-grown garlic has so much more flavor and way fewer chemicals, making it easily the better option.

These instructions are based on successes and failures in my own garden, what works well in my area in zone 5 (Upstate, NY) may not work well in your own garden.

Types of Garlic

There are a few major types of garlic. Due to how far north we are, hardneck garlic is typically the garlic of choice for local growers since it is capable of withstanding our frosty winters. This version is also the type that produces wonderful curled scapes in the early summer that are also edible. Softneck garlic can be grown in milder regions, and typically does not produce scapes. It is, however, the type of garlic that is good for braiding. Finally, elephant garlic is a large, mildly flavored version, which only produces four to 6 large cloves.

Where & When to Plant Garlic

Find a spot to plant your garlic in a well-drained bed that will get plenty of sun, at least 6 hours of sunlight per day. Fall planting allows the garlic to overwinter and begin growing in the earliest parts of spring producing large bulbs. Garlic can also be planted in the late winter or early spring but these bulbs will be smaller than the fall planted version.

How to Plant Garlic

Harvesting the Garlic

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