When do you plant garlic?

northspruce

10 years ago

When in zone 2/3 do you plant garlic? Every spring I wish I had some, and every fall I forget to plant it!

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Comments (8)

nutsaboutflowers
10 years ago
Soon! Soon! :)

I usually plant mine the same time as my tulip bulbs. They both come from Botanus.

I ordered the pack of 8 mixed garlic this year. Since I'll have more than I need I think I'll only plant the biggest ones.
don555
10 years ago
It's odd... I grow a big crop of onions every year and I think I'm pretty good at it now, but garlic completely eludes me. I've tried fall planting, spring planting, leaving it in the ground for 2 years, but in the end my best choice is to just buy garlic at the grocery store.
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I am a slave to the weather channel. We have it on first thing in the morning, and I always look at the weekly outlook- highs & lows. Once the temps start staying above 40 or so at night, I start the plant-out (this is a personal thing, as I see that recluse uses 30. I don't have enough info to know which ones are hardy enough to take the lower temps, so I just use 40+) If the temps dip after that, I'll toss a cloche over them for the night. I also like to use the 15-day forecast over at accuweather.com, but obviously if the weatherman can't get it right for 2-days out, it's unlikely that they really know the 15-day outlook. But I'm only looking at the temps, so knowing that the earth's orbit is relatively stable (wink), I can rest assured that they may at least have THAT part pretty close. Planting out: It depends how thickly I sowed them. Unlike recluse, I "sprinkle and go" with many many containers. This might mean entirely too many seeds in a container, but I've found that it makes for a good show when planted out HOS. If I got super-good germination and a totally green container because I sowed WAY thick, I'll do WAY small HOSs. Some of my annuals like Marigolds and Zinnias I don't do HOS, but most things I do. They can duke it out after they're in the ground. HOW you plant out is very much relative to how detail-oriented you are. If you're very specific about how you do things, it may throw your whole world into an uproar to try and do a plunk 'n run technique. Of course, depending on how many containers you got out there, you may find yourself plunking, running, and drinking heavily due to the stress of HAVING to do it at some point ;)
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I'm another 1st time garlic planter, near Denver. I have an order of Killarney red, Inchelium, Italian purple stripe, Music and Persian Star coming in a few weeks. I was able to order a quarter lb of each, since I don't know which types I like or how they'll do here. I'm curious about radar love's post on the Poll, when do you plant garlic thread. Radar love said he/she plants whole bulbs rather than individual cloves. Other than it being easier to plant a whole bulb, are there any benefits to doing that? The "easier" part is a big selling point with me. I'd just like to do it right the first time. Barb
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I went to the garlic festival on Saturday and planted my garlic on Sunday -- had the bed prepped and ready :-) We prefer the stiff necked varieties - this year I planted six heads of the German Stiffneck variety -- that's about 45-50 cloves in a 3x5 raised box bed. Next weekend I plan to cover the bed with straw before the ground freezes. We've already had several white frosts which zapped all the tender plants -- beans and squash, etc, so now cleanup can begin. Potatoes have been dug, as well as carrots and beets -- they have been transferred to the root cellar. Parsnips are still in the ground -- they will also be covered with straw, to be enjoyed as the very first spring veggie! They are sooooo superior in taste after their winter of hibernation! Enjoy
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Yeah, It's been a rough year for beans. One good early crop, poor production most of the summer, but better since early-mid september. Most growers I've spoken with agree. Don't know where you are, but try to buy organic garlic(may be hard to find in some parts of Iowa). Conventional garlic(common grocery store varieties) is likely treated with an anti-sprouting chemical and won't work for you. I bought my garlic from seeds of change (seedsofchange.com). Kinda expensive at first, but good investment since you save some each year for planting for the next season. You could check out the Garlic Seed foundation online. Or check out a local farmers market for bulbs of garlic that you can break up and plant. I planted around 40 lbs. last year. Sold a bunch this year and still have 70-80 lbs. to plant this year. When you save your own garlic, the quality/yield should improve over time, as each generation becomes more acclimatized. Good luck , will be planting garlic in 2 weeks, even though it was ~90 degrees today.
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nutsaboutflowers
10 years ago
Don, you can grow blackberries, onions, and melons, but not garlic? LOL !

I generally plant mine about 2 inches deeper than the package says, just like my tulips. I wonder if that would help ?

Gillian, definitely give it a try. The curliques in the garden look so cool.

Lynn
macky77
10 years ago
I'm planning to plant mine this weekend, cloves and bulbils. This will be my second time planting garlic; ordered my first bulbs last fall and planted them September 23. Three of the four varieties I planted grew and thrived. :)

Leningrad (Porcelain) did very well. Persian Star (Purple Stripe) did also. Surprisingly, Rose de Lautrec (Creole or weakly-bolting hardneck) grew nicely (though smaller) as well; it's not really ideal for our climate. Kilarney Red (Rocambole) didn't survive the winter. I'm adding Northern Quebec (Porcelain) and Kostyn's Red Russian (Marbled Purple Stripe) to the bunch this year.

Don, what varieties did you try? If you planted a softneck in the fall or a hardneck in the spring, that might explain the trouble.
northspruce
Original Author
10 years ago
Oh no, now there's different varieties! :S I was just going to buy some bulbs of organic Canadian grown garlic from Safeway and stuff the cloves in the garden.

I'm still going to do that. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks for the info all!
macky77
10 years ago
Most of the garlic sold in grocery stores are softneck garlics, which won't grow well here (and are planted in the spring if they do). Might be a waste of time and energy if you don't at least know whether it's a hardneck or not. They can grow softnecks in BC and other warmer places, but you'd be hard pressed in Manitoba, as far as I understand.
northspruce
Original Author
10 years ago
I think the stuff I bought before was hardneck. It had a purple skin, and a huge rock hard stem through the middle. It tasted different too.
luckygal
10 years ago
I planted a dozen cloves about 10 days ago which was early but I was going away. I'll plant more now that I'm home but it's raining today. Trying to decide how many to plant, seems there's never too much.

I planted Ukranian red garlic and plant deeper than recommended - about 4" down (6" hole) and will mulch with shredded bark later. Also have some Italian (milder) to plant.

One year we were away in September and I planted in early October and had a great crop so there is still lots of time IMO.

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When do you plant garlic?

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nutsaboutflowers

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When do you plant garlic?

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nutsaboutflowers

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