Growing Garlic

Allium sativum : Amaryllidaceae / the onion family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
                P P    

(Best months for growing Garlic in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Plant cloves

September: Garlic can overwinter. Cover with a good layer of mulch . In areas where frost persists into March/ April, expect to harvest your garlic in June/July.

October: Garlic can overwinter. Cover with a good layer of mulch . In areas where frost persists into March/ April, expect to harvest your garlic in June/July.

  • Easy to grow. Plant cloves. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 4 - 5 inches apart
  • Harvest in 17-25 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Dill, Tomatoes, Parsnips
  • Avoid growing close to: Asparagus, Beans, Brassicas, Peas, Potatoes

Your comments and tips

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02 Sep 21, Molly Beverly (USA - Zone 7b climate)
We have grown up to 3 acres of garlic over the past 30 years. Plant in October/November, harvest the end of June. Around mid June the tops will start drying. Pull a bulb and count the wrappers. If there are 5 wrappers it is time to cut off the water. Harvest when the tops are mostly dried. I make braids from the largest bulbs right then. Hang them in the kitchen. Let the garlic cure 2 weeks in the shade before storing in a cool, dark place at room temperature. I grow soft neck garlic with big cloves and it keeps braided, hanging on my kitchen wall until the next harvest. And... always save the biggest bulbs with the biggest cloves for the next planting.
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22 Oct 21, Jose (USA - Zone 8a climate)
How often do you water the garlics? And you braid them? How do you get them ready to replant for next season? I live in Lexington South Carolina. Email me any tips I’m looking to get planting garlic for the first time. I’d appreciate it.
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29 Aug 21, Jim Tocci (USA - Zone 7a climate)
My research seems to indicate that soft neck garlic might be more appropriate for my region vs hard neck. We plan to put them in mid-October to early November. Thanks!
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17 Aug 21, william (USA - Zone 8a climate)
I am located in the Marshville, NC area. I have read varying articles about when to plant. I'm on the 7b/8a cusp. Some articles have said that I can plant as early as October or as last as January. More specific advice would be much appreciated.
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01 Sep 21, Melinda Schwab (USA - Zone 8a climate)
We always prepare our garlic beds in late September and the first week of October plant our garlic and have had great luck with this. Best of luck with yours this year! Hope this helps. ~Melinda
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29 Aug 21, (USA - Zone 7b climate)
It has a bit different times for 7b to 8a - you work out what is the best. Read and google about growing it.
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02 Jul 21, Vicki (USA - Zone 7b climate)
What is the best garlic to grow in Virginia Zone 7b?
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31 May 21, Mary Manion (USA - Zone 7a climate)
My first year growing German Red Garlic I bought from Burpee's and planted last early November, in 7A South Jersey, USA. Late frost, then huge temperature variations and a heat wave of 97 last week is doing us in! I have been careful to keep it watered. But suddenly after that lots of my spring greens bolted and my garlic- which did NOT flower- just started to fall over and turn yellow. I have left them in the ground as it was not supposed to harvest until mid July! Any chance it will spring back? Should I cut the stem off? Thanks for advice!
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12 May 21, Anonymous (USA - Zone 7a climate)
I always grow my garlic from grocery store garlic, if I have no planting cloves of my own. I am in zone7...it alwAys germinated and proceeds to grow beautiful large garlic! I ordered some a good while back from a reputable gardening site, and it did NOT do well...almost no bulbs,
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03 Apr 21, Lasha (South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical climate)
If planted in may will the garlic grow well?it will have two months warm and about two war and two cold
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This is a transcript of a article on growing garlic in central Australia (desert). It is on ABC Rural News and may be a help to you. Trials reveal potential for garlic-growing in Northern Territory Posted 7 Oct 2016 MAP: Alice Springs 0870 A trial exploring the capabilities of seven garlic varieties in the red centre is showing some early positive results. Seven varieties of garlic are being trialled at the Northern Territory's Arid Zone Research Institute (AZRI), alongside the standard industry garlic variety, Glen Large. The Alice Springs environment will demonstrate how varieties that have never been grown commercially in the Northern Territory respond to extreme cold and extreme heat. Central Australian Horticulture Development Project manager and researcher Stuart Smith said despite challenges such as poor water quality, the results so far had been positive. "We're hoping, because we're just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, we're just a bit a little subtropical, that we're in the right area," he said. "We've got the right heat profile, right day length and we're able to grow some good bulbs. "If it'll grow here, it'll grow anywhere. "Central Australia is a bit isolated from the rest of Australia so it doesn't have the pests and diseases of the other garlic-growing areas." Plan to get garlic onto market early in season Mr Smith believes there is a market opportunity for garlic that grows early in the traditional growing season. We thought we could get a few varieties to come early on the market, so we can get some good prices for them and replace the imported garlic," he said. The first successful harvested trial crop has reached a stage of maturity that would be ready for market. "It's got a code name called AF. We're getting some good-sized bulbs out of this," Mr Smith said. "I estimate we're getting 6-8 tonnes per hectare." The DPI's Stuart Smith and agriculture minister Ken Vowles stand in a field of garlic PHOTO: Stuart Smith and Primary Industries Minister Ken Vowles discuss the garlic crop trial near Alice Springs. (ABC Rural: Katrina Beaven) Mr Smith said the early trial results were encouraging despite poor water quality and salty soils. "We have to keep watering them pretty constantly to keep moving the salt out of the root zone," he said. "The water we're using at AZRI is pretty low quality. "Most of the water other people are using in horticulture around the Central Australian region is a lot better quality than this." Mr Smith said the research results would also add value to what was being learned by a grower at Orange Creek Station, south of Alice Springs, who is conducting a commercial garlic trial this year.

- John

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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