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Planting and Harvesting Garlic

By Kathy LaLiberté

Planting garlic Planting

The bigger the clove you plant, the bigger the head you'll harvest. If you're replanting garlic from your own stock, choose the biggest and best heads from last summer's harvest. And also use up any heads with cloves that are starting to separate.

Planting

In most parts of the country, late fall is the best time of year to plant garlic. The cloves establish roots before the ground freezes and when spring comes the plants are ready to charge out of the ground. Bulbs usually mature by late July.

Garlic Grow Bag: You can also grow garlic in a specially designed fabric bag. For details see the Instructions for the Garlic Grow Bag.

Here in Vermont it's easy to tell when the garlic should be planted. Look up at the hillsides. If they're a blaze of red, orange and yellow, it's time. I'm always saying how easy it is to plant garlic. Now I have some photos to prove it (see slideshow, at right). Planting enough garlic to last 12 months took me an hour. I might put in a few minutes weeding in early June, and I usually spend about 10 minutes cutting off the flower heads when they appear in early July. But, other than that, there's nothing to do until the heads are ready to harvest

Harvesting

Planting garlic Harvesting

This bed of garlic is ready to harvest. Some leaves are beginning to yellow. You could leave them a bit longer, but if the soil is wet, you risk having the papery wraps around the cloves begin to deteriorate.

Determining when garlic is ready to harvest is one of the trickiest parts about growing it. If you harvest too soon the cloves will be small and underdeveloped (certainly usable but not as big and plump as possible). If you wait too long, as the heads dry the cloves will begin to separate and the head won’t be tight and firm (also not a disaster, but the cloves will be more vulnerable to decay and drying out so they won't store as long).

Though it depends somewhat on the growing season and where you live, garlic is usually ready to harvest in late July. The slideshow at right, with photos from my own garden, shows what to watch for. Properly curing the heads is also important and you’ll see that as well.