When to plant garlic

Could some kind soul tell me when to plant garlic cloves in zone 7. I've always wanted to try but not sure when to plant, how long till harvest. does it come back like a true perennial? Any help appreciated.

I'm in your zone and plant after Thanksgiving or first frost. The bulbs settle in underground and begin root growth but stay dormant enough to not initiate leaf growth and then get hit by a hard freeze.

Thank you MaypopLaurel. I see now, the top growth holds off until the next spring
so no top growth to freeze. I;m going to try in late fall, would love to grow my
own garlic as it has many medicinal uses, just plain good for you. Hope I can
find some cinnamon mouthwash, :-)

Really just plain good no matter what the use. To answer 'will they come back question?'..yes but each clove is capable of being another bulb so best to harvest what you can and re-plant.. I can harvest a bed and still have stragglers.

Maypop, So after I harvest my 1st crop and save back some cloves, don't plant then wait till cold weathers 1st freeze to re-plant? Hope I've got it right.Then its just
a matter of repeating the process each yr.
Thanks for your help.


This message was edited Sep 21, 2017 12:39 PM

Wait until soil temperature is fifty degrees at planting depth. The cloves will begin root growth at that temperature but leaf growth will be retarded. Plant before freeze so cloves establish and are ready for rapid growth come spring.

When harvesting and storing in summer, dry-store whole bulbs. Do not break into cloves and do not refrigerate. Refrigerating creates false dormancy and triggers rapid growth when cloves are planted. Select largest cloves from each bulb for best vigor.

Are you planting anything exotic?

Maypop thanks for this info. Wish I had a root cellar to dry store my bulbs.
Wish I could remember what my mom and dad used for onion storage.
I'm just now learning not to keep my tomatoes in the fridge when I buy em.
I do grow a few exotics, just not in the ground, I greenhouse grow. Right'
now, all my plants are out under the shade trees
I have nite blooming cactus, Clitoria blue pea vine which did not do well
this summer. I have a few Plumerias, hard to get these to bloom (for me anyway)
One of my morning glory's and a Calliandra, pink powder puff.
A few others, especially my favorites, Angel wing Begonias.

Very nice. I also greenhouse plants though my collection is restricted to orchids. I've got Clitoris vine at Maypop as a native. It's more a subtle lavender than yours. Is yours a hybrid variety?

I've grown garlic from Russia, Poland, Italy and Germany as well as the more common grocery store Chinese. I was wondering if you are growing hard or soft neck and what variety?

Laurel, I;m not sure re my Clitoria vine. I thought my color was an original
but perhaps it is a hybrid.
I haven;t grown any garlic yet, just been wanting to for a long time. So this'will be
my 1st growing season. I;m looking forward to it. :-)

I grow German White down here in Sevierville Tn. I plant in Nov and since we get very little frost plants do sprout a bit over winter. Use a well drained area that gets wet when it rains and can water with soaker hoses. Plan about inch below surface, 2" apart and I use 6" rows, mulch with about 6" (straw, hay (both will usually reseed and take nutrients away from plants) dried grass hasn't given me much problems. Late spring you will see the SNAPES (flower stem) remove all so the plant puts all energy into the bulb--taste good stir-fried. I harvest after tops dry up and dry them on an old fold up cot. I store them in an insulated closet I built in the carport.

Thanks bigdaddie I was wondering about the planting depth. I'll be sure to remove the flower stalks. I have a feed/seed store in Little Rock that should carry different kinds of garlic, I'll check with them. I just found Baccto potting soil and Baccto Professional Potting Mix at their store.
Where did you find your German white bulbs?

My Brother-in-law in NE Pa grows fields of them and brought me 50 the first year. (pic is part of his crop setup on scaffold to dry) i planted them and got 220 for seed and the rest went to family down here. Planted 220, harvested 200 plants--due to my wife's cancer problems/ passing, I didn't cut the scapes and harvested late, lost some to rot and most were small (cloves the size of a nickle and quarter). Gave most of the big bulbs to my daughter and neighbor -they cook with garlic all the time. I use garlic powder (easier). I do have about 350 cloves for this fall
I don't use special soil. Have a clay based soil here and just dug a trench 3 years ago with a troy tiller and I till in Llama and Pygmy goat manure and last years hay mulch. That is the extent of my fertilization. Surprising is the rotten ones I threw in the compost pile have started to grow, may transplant them also. I would put 5 rows in so you can reach any weeds and cut the scapes, plants usually get 2+ft high before the start to bend over.

Bigdaddie I will be starting on a an extra small level since this will be an experiment'for me. If I do well, I can always increase the amount of garlic I grow.
Sorry about your wife. So sad when we lose our partners.
My soil/potting mix is for my tropicals, I greenhouse grow. I have a stand of what looks like chives that come up every yr in the same spot, so might plant my garlic in that area.
Your imput is very much appreciated and that of Maylaurels too. :-)

My condolences, Bigdaddie. I also grow German White. You do have a terrific set up. Love the bed frame drying rack.

Patootie, garlic is undemanding. You do need to research whether hardneck or softneck is best for your area. I can grow both. If you're looking for varietals, LoganBerry Farm has an online store with four available. https://squareup.com/market/loganberry-heritage-farm They are in my area and I've done business with them. I've grown their Chesnok and Siberian Red. Varietals are expensive but one head of a couple varieties will get you going on a garlic patch. I mark my rows with a stone and use a paint marker (not the same as "permanent" marker) to identify the variety.

Maypop I'll do my research probably calling the Agri extension office.
I would welcome their recommendation. I'll check out the link you sent too.
Thank you

Spent the day planting my garlic for next summer. Didn't get many edible bulbs this year due to special circumstances. Did however get cloves for next year. Put in 560 cloves, mulched and put fence up as I let the llama and pygmy billy eat the grass in the garden over the winter. Used the 6"x6" spacing--10 rows -28' long, topped of with a scattering of llama and goat manure across it all, used grass for mulch. Looking forward to a good harvest.

You almost plant enough to meet my needs. :) I go through 6-10 heads a month. Garlic & chocolate; my two favorite flavors. And lucky you with an on site fertilizer factories!

I have 6 or 7 garlic plants up. I thought the 15 inches of rain during Feb would do them in but so far they seem fine,.( a few yellow lvs).Just feeling my way here so will be very happy if I manage to harvest a few bulbs.

Glad that you have a crop coming up--Pics are my main bed planted last fall and the little bed was planted in Feb (warm day)-leftover small ones I had found in a box.

Your garlic beds look great bigdaddie. I will be happy if I get a few bulbs to
enjoy.

Chuckl, bulb onions and garlic (and Chayote squash) that rotten bulb is the kernal being fed to propagate the new plant. How the rotten bulb protects/feeds the new plant...

I planted mine in a shady spot, couldn't tell as all the leaves were off the trees, so when the leaves returned, they did not get enough sun to produce. I assume that was the problem. The leaves were healthy enough, just no bulbs.

No cloves or just a single bulb a mini onion? When did you plant that there were no leaves on trees? What variety did you plant?

Laurel, I planted in late fall/early winter and they came up in the spring,. They were good size when the lvs came back.on the trees in March making it absolutely too shady. I can't think of any other reason they wont make bulbs.

So I am still curious about variety? Did I miss that? If you planted a hardneck variety and had a relatively warm winter you would have small, possibly non-cloving, heads. Hardneck requires vernalization (a certain amount low temperatures days). If you planted basic grocery store garlic it was most likely softneck and perhaps lack of sun was the problem. However, most alliums including garlic, can take part sun. I grow garlic, garlic chives and Nebuka bunching onions (an heirloom scallion) in part shade.

Edited to add your response did not show up in my thread watcher.


This message was edited May 1, 2023 7:18 PM

It was store garlic. Planted after the leaves had fallen for the winter. The spot appeared sunny. but as soon as spring came,. the leaves came back out and there was no sun. So not even enough partial sun to amount to anything. so I guess I will just continue to buy my garlic. It would have been a lot of fun to grow my own. Too many health problems now to worry about it.

So many older DGers have aged out of more intensive gardening. It doesn't get easier but I keep hauling myself out there. No one is more surprised than me when sometime by summer it turns into an actual garden!

Maypop I was doing so good for an older lady. I'm exhausted all the time now, a sure sign of long covid. If so, never knew I had it
I bet your garden is lovely, reflecting all your hard work. I can no longer keep up with all the repotting I need to do. May be time for me to start selling off most of my tropicals, keeping only a few favorites.

Hopefully spring weather will help you get your garden mojo back. As for garlic, I haven't intentionally cultivated it in a few years. There were several exotic varieties in a dedicated bed and the next thing I knew garlic was popping up on the weedy slope below the garden and the step on the next level down the hill. It's everywhere now. Because I let it flower and form scapes the bulbs usually don't clove well, but form one giant clove. However, I love cooking with the scapes.

After turning the water off the garlic how long do I need to wait before digging up the bulbs?

Harvest when several or up to half of the lower leaves yellow and
go down. Brush off dirt. Leave all leaves, regardless of color, attached to bulbs. I braid leaves on six to ten bulbs at a time and hang bulbs in an open shed while the remaining leaves and protective paper dry. I've stored them by hanging from braids on kitchen rafters but the odor begins to permeate the house.

Maypop thank you for the information, I will look forward to the leaves dropping off and yellowing before digging and braiding. A secondary question, is it too late to harvest the scapes after the water has been shut off?

I am no garlic expert but went to a garlic festival years ago and spent way to much on exotic heirlooms. Besides preparing and planting the original bed, harvesting about now and every few years dropping additional cloves, they are self maintaining. No irrigation required and they keep popping up outside that original bed. My garden is on a zone edge for soft and hardneck so I grow both types. I can no longer tell which is what from the original planting.

Scapes should be harvested while green and fresh looking. They are otherwise tough and stringy if you intend to use leaves. Should taste like garlicky green onions. The bulbils are still usable like little cloves but a pain to prep. I toss them in various pickled vegetables. If you are growing scapes you will probably have poor bulbs since energy went to seed production and not underground. For high quality bulbs the flower stalks need to be cut as they form.