Growing Garlic

Grow Garlic--it is fun to grow and oh-so-delicious!

Garlic is one of the few crops that you plant in the fall and harvest in the middle of the vegetable garden season.  Simply plant a clove of organic garlic in the fall, cover with a nice thick layer of straw or mulch, and wait for spring!  In early spring, the first leaves from the garlic will appear and then later a garlic scape--the curly seedhead that is delicious when cut from the plant and stir fried with a bit of oil.

Harvest garlic in mid-summer when the tops die back.  Clean out the bed and you are ready to plant a fall crop in the same bed!

Be sure to use garlic that has not been treated to inhibit sprouting -- use seed garlic from a nursery or seed company or keep some of your best heads of garlic from your harvest to replant.  

Another tip is to start with a weed free bed, then plant the garlic cloves and top with a thick layer of straw or mulch.  The straw will help keep weeds down, minimize heaving due to freezing and thawing, and make for easier gardening in the spring.

Want more information about growing garlic?  Go to Cornell University's Vegetable Growing Guide:  http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/sc...

Last updated October 9, 2020