Plant Garlic in October

Fall is the season to plant garlic cloves. Over the winter, the cloves establish their root systems, so that come spring, they can produce the leafy greens to feed and form the bulb.

• Plant in the fall from October to November.
• Don’t try to plant cloves from the grocery store. Instead, get cloves from a mail order seed company or a local nursery.
• Break apart cloves from bulb a few days before planting but keep the papery husk on each individual clove.
• Select a sunny spot where the soil is well-drained and has plenty of organic matter.
• Work a couple of tablespoons of 5-10-10 complete fertilizer, bone meal or fish meal into the soil several inches below the clove.
• Place cloves 4 inches apart and 2 inches deep, root-side down and pointed end facing up.
• Fertilize in early spring.
• Garlic will be ready for harvest in May/June. Don’t wait for the leaves to die, but begin checking around this time period.