Planting Garlic

Lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, fight heart disease, boost your immune system, and add a bit of flavor to your meals by growing your own garlic.

Purchase firm, healthy bulbs of garlic. Each bulb contains a dozen or more cloves. The larger the clove you plant, the bigger the bulb you’ll harvest.

Plant cloves in fall about 6 weeks before the ground freezes in cold climates and early winter in warmer regions. Garlic needs about 6 to 8 weeks of cool temperatures below 40 degrees for the shoot and bulb to develop.

Plant individual cloves in a sunny well-drained location approximately 6 inches apart with the pointed side up and the base of the clove 2 to 3 inches below the soil surface.

Mulch the soil with weed-free straw or evergreen boughs after the ground freezes, if you are gardening in an area with cold winters.

A bit more information: The garlic leaves will form during the cool short days of spring and then slow as bulb growth begins in the warmer longer days of summer. Harvest your garlic when ¹/₃, but less than ¹/₂ of the leaves turn brown. Cloves should be plump and fill the skin.