Growing garlic is a great garden project for beginners and is a lot of fun for experienced gardeners too. It’s easy to grow and pretty low-maintenance. We love planting garlic each autumn after the temperatures have cooled off. It’s the perfect time to be out in the garden enjoying the weather. Plus, a bit of work in the fall and little care in spring means delicious garlic year-round! While garlic is easy to manage, we see gardeners make a few simple mistakes each year.
If you hope to maximize your garlic harvest, here are a few key mistakes you should avoid.
Using store-bought garlic for growing garlic.
Unfortunately, growing garlic isn’t as simple as picking some up at the grocery store. Most conventionally grown store-bought garlic has been sprayed with sprouting inhibitors and may even have been irradiated. This means it won’t sprout in your garden or will have weak growth.
While organic store-bought garlic may be better, it still has a few issues. Store-bought garlic isn’t tested like seed garlic and may bring soil-borne diseases or pests to your garden. It may also be old or weak from long storage and shipping times.
Additionally, store-bought garlic may not be the best fit for your climate or needs. Most store-bought garlic is a single variety of softneck garlic. If you purchase from a reputable seed company, you’ll have access to many types of hardneck and softneck garlic, and choosing the right one will help ensure you get good production, as we’ll discuss below.
Choosing the wrong variety for your climate.
We carry two different types of garlic, each with unique traits.
Softneck garlic is a good choice for southern gardens. It’s also an excellent option for storage, and its soft stems are great for creating braids of garlic to hang in the kitchen or pantry. You can successfully grow softneck in zones 3 through 9.
Hardneck garlic, sometimes called rocambole garlic, does best in cooler climates, typically from Virginia northward. Hardneck garlic gets its name from its tasty flower stalk, called a scape, which you can harvest in early summer. Some widely adapted varieties are suitable for zones 3 through 8, but most are ideal for zones 3 through 6.
Read more about different garlic types in our post Choosing the Perfect Garlic for Your Garden.
Planting garlic too early.
If you plant too early, your garlic will sprout and begin growing leaves. If the leaves get too big, the cold will damage them during the winter.
Exactly when to plant garlic will depend on your location and climate. Most gardeners plant their garlic sometime between September and December. You want to get your garlic in the ground after the temperatures cool off but before the ground freezes.
If you’re growing garlic in a cold climate, a good time is 1 to 2 weeks after your first killing frost. This will allow your cloves to develop roots before the ground freezes. You can plant garlic late in milder climates, but late-planted garlic may produce smaller bulbs.
To find out exactly when to plant your garden, you can use a tool like our gardening app, which will offer precise planting date recommendations based on your zip code.
Failing to amend your soil.
Garlic is fairly low-maintenance, but the better your soil, the better production you’ll get. Garlic is a moderately heavy feeder that thrives in loose, well-drained, fertile soil that’s rich in organic matter.
Each fall before planting, adding 2 to 6 inches of finished compost to your beds can greatly increase your harvest.
Spacing garlic too tightly.
Garlic is a productive crop for small spaces, but it still needs adequate spacing to produce large bulbs. Plant your garlic cloves about 6 inches apart so they don’t compete for light, nutrients, and water.
Overwatering or growing garlic in a bed with poor drainage.
Garlic hates wet feet! Growing garlic in soggy soil can lead to pore production or even crop loss from fungal root rot. If possible, plant your garlic in a spot with well-drained soil. Amending heavily with compost and other organic matter can improve drainage. You can also grow garlic in raised beds.
When your garlic is starting to mature, and the lower leaves are turning brown, you want to cut back on watering, stopping completely about 2 to 3 weeks before harvest. This helps the skin dry and toughen before harvest.
Not keeping up with mulching and weeding when growing garlic.
Garlic doesn’t compete well with weeds. Bulbs in beds with high weed pressure will be smaller than bulbs grown in well-tended, mulched beds.
Mulch thickly in the fall to help insulate the garlic over winter. You will probably need to add another layer of mulch in spring or summer as it breaks down. This mulch will help reduce weed pressure and adds organic matter to the soil. We often use hay, but you can also add straw, old leaves, or grass clippings to your beds.
Harvesting too early or too late.
One of the best parts of growing garlic is the harvest, but you still need to plan it carefully. Garlic is usually ready to harvest in early to midsummer. Wait to harvest your garlic until the bottom 1/3 of each garlic plant’s leaves have turned brown and dry.
Harvesting garlic early can be tempting, but it can affect your garlic production and storage. Garlic that’s harvested too early may be small or may have cloves that haven’t fully divided yet. It can also have thin skin. If the skin doesn’t toughen and thicken, your garlic won’t store well.
Harvesting garlic too late can also be problematic. The papery skins can split if you harvest a bit too late or even start to rot if you wait much too long. This can decrease your garlic’s storage life.
Pulling on the stems to harvest garlic.
In ideal, loose soil, you may get away with pulling garlic from the stems, but most gardeners don’t have perfect soil. Pulling on the stems can damage the stems and bulbs, which can affect your garlic’s storage life. It’s best to gently lift the soil with a garden fork to harvest your garlic.
Skipping the proper curing process.
It may sound strange, but for good storage life, you need to cure your garlic after harvesting before you process it at all. Curing allows the skin to finish toughening and drying.
To cure your garlic, leave it dirty and intact. You can brush off major clumps of dirt, but don’t trim any of the leaves or roots. It’s perfectly fine if the skins look dirty.
Hang your garlic in bunches somewhere cool, dry, and ventilated, like a shed, garage, covered porch, or barn. Ideally, the temperature should be between 60°F and 90°F, and there should be no direct sunlight hitting the garlic.
Allow your garlic to cure for 1 to 2 months. Then you can trim off the roots and stems. Leave 1 to 2 inches of stem for hardneck garlic and trim just above the bulb for softneck varieties, if desired. You can also braid soft neck varieties for storage.
If you need more information about how to plant garlic, visit our full Guide to Growing Garlic.
