5 Garlic Planting Tips To Easily Boost Your Harvest

Garlic is an easy crop and grows well in our Colorado climate. As you’re putting the rest of the garden to bed for the winter, prepare a spot for fall planting of garlic for a mid-July harvest.

Why grow garlic in your home garden? Garlic is inexpensive to buy so growing it yourself doesn’t save money. However, home-grown garlic has amazing flavor and you can choose unique varieties that aren’t found at grocery stores. There’s the added benefit that garlic is easy to grow in Colorado. That’s a win, win, win!

Choose your garlic

Don’t buy starting garlic from the grocery store because it may have been treated to prevent sprouting or, if organic, might not be suited for growing in your climate. It’s best to buy garlic from a garden center, either in person or online. You could also buy it at a local farmer’s market but be sure to ask the grower about the variety, if it’s grown locally, and if there are any treatments to their garlic.

True garlic is classified as either softneck or hardneck. (Elephant garlic is not included in this discussion because it’s more closely related to leeks.)

Softneck

  • Milder flavor

  • Stores well

  • Doesn’t produce hard flower stalks

  • Good for braiding

  • Typically found in grocery stores

Hardneck

  • More intense flavor

  • Larger cloves

  • Doesn’t store as long

  • Generally hardier in colder climates

  • Produces edible, hard flower stalks called scapes

I love intense garlic flavor so I grow mostly hardneck varieties. Some that have done well in my Front Range Colorado garden are German Red, Spanish Roja, and Purple Glazer. I’ve grown Pueblo Early, a softneck variety, for braiding but this seems better suited to southern Colorado. This year, I’ve opted for just one type: Music. It promises larger, easy-to-peel cloves with an intense garlic flavor. It all comes down to personal choice or what’s available when you’re shopping. You can pre-order seed garlic online in spring or summer for fall delivery or visit your local garden center in fall.

Prepare the planting site and garlic

Choose a sunny site that has well-drained soil. Amend soil appropriately with additives (like compost), if needed, to achieve a loamy, well-draining soil consistency. Take your time with this step because it’s so important for good bulb production. Another option is to plant garlic in raised beds or grow bags.

Just before planting, break apart each garlic bulb into individual cloves. Make sure to leave the “skin” layer on each clove and discard any cloves that are soft or look diseased. Separate out the largest cloves for planting and use the smaller ones for cooking, if desired.

Plant the garlic

The planting range in Colorado is from September to November depending on the USDA hardiness zone. The garlic needs to develop roots before the ground freezes solid but not so much time that it sprouts and really starts growing. In my zone 5b-6a, 5400 ft elevation garden, I plant garlic early to mid-November. We have so much variability in temperature that the ground doesn’t usually freeze solid until late December or so.

Plant each garlic clove flat side down (this is where roots will grow), and pointy side up. The pointy end should be one inch below the soil surface. Each clove will result in a garlic bulb, so space them about 4 – 6 inches apart. Cover with soil and water well.

Mulch the planting site

Mulch will protect your garlic cloves from winter soil heaving and winter temperature fluctuations. Cover your new garlic patch with 4 – 6 inches of straw or pine needles. In the spring, you’ll remove some of this mulch, leaving just enough to help keep moisture in and suppress weeds.

Winter Care

The beauty of growing garlic is that there is minimal winter care! If you see green shoots popping up during a warm spell, that’s okay and there’s no need for protection. Only water if there’s been a dry spell, say more than 3-4 weeks without rain or snow. Too much water can lead to rot, so bear that in mind. The roots will form in the first month or so and, in the spring, the cloves will sprout when they’re ready.

Happy Planting!! 

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