Plant garlic in early fall

It is time to set garlic in the garden. Garlic is a great crop for beginning gardeners because it is effortless. It is a cool-season crop that will be in the ground for up to eight months, so leave a dedicated space for it. Planting garlic in the fall lets the cloves overwinter and size up for harvesting late next spring.

Garlic is a member of the Alliaceae (al-ee-aye-see-aye-ee) family of the genus Allium. Like garlic, onion and leek are grown for their underground parts but garlic has a scaly bulb with a papery covering that separates divisions of fleshy sections called cloves. Garlic flowers do not produce seed, rather, flowers revert to a vegetative state and produce miniature bulbs. Since there is no seed, all garlic is propagated vegetatively from cloves.

Garlic is started from individual cloves. Cloves can be purchased from garden centers, seed catalogs, or from the grocer. If purchasing cloves from a grocer, be aware that commercial garlic cloves may have been treated with an inhibitor to suppress sprouting. Once the garden produces its own cloves, the largest can be selected for next year’s crop. Each clove produces a sprout, spring cloves swell, begin to divide and form a full garlic “head” at harvest.

There are two types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. Hardneck are cultivated in northern growing areas with very cold winters. They develop an erect, stiff flower stalk from the center of the clove.

Softneck garlic types do not produce a stiff central stem. These are the cloves sold in the produce section. Softneck types have mild flavors. This type of garlic is grown in our area.

Plant large cloves in the fall before a hard freeze. Since the plants will be in the ground for many months, till the planting bed to a depth of one foot and amend with organic matter. Plant individual cloves four inches deep with the flat root end down. Leave papery coverings on cloves. Cover with loose soil and a layer of mulch. Water well and keep moist. Apply nitrogen in the spring.

Cloves can be harvested when leaves begin to yellow, indicating cloves are maturing, usually around July. Gently lift bulbs, keeping cloves intact. Bulbs of soft-neck varieties can be dried under dark, dry conditions at room temperature or cured by braiding and hanging to dry.