Time is ripe to plant garlic
If you are thinking about growing garlic for next year’s salsa or spaghetti sauce, now is the time to plant.
Garlic planted in the fall is more mature and forms a larger bulb. Garlic can be planted in the spring, but the bulbs will be much smaller. Take it from me — I forgot to plant it last fall and the garlic this season was really small.
Before you purchase garlic, make sure you decide on either hardneck or softneck garlic. Hardneck produces larger cloves but fewer of them and tends to have shorter storage life.
Softneck produces a lot of cloves per head that are a little smaller per clove and stores a little better than hardneck.
Among both of these types there are different varieties that have different maturation rates and flavors as well. Just do an Internet search and you will find many places that sell garlic bulbs.
It’s not recommended that you use garlic that you purchase from the grocery store as this is usually treated to prevent sprouting. In a grocery this works, but not in the garden.
Garlic prefers rich, loamy, well-drained soil — what plants don’t? It will grow in our clay soils, but not compacted clay. Keep in mind the bulb is underground and will have a tough time forming if the soil is compacted.
Garlic can’t tolerate wet soil as it will rot easily if the soil remains wet for long periods of time.
To plant, separate the head into individual cloves. Notice that each clove has the flat bottom or basal plate. You usually cut this and the tip off when preparing.
The basal plate is where the roots emerge and the tip is where the foliage emerges. Plant the basal plate down in the soil about two inches deep.
Space the cloves four to five inches apart in rows that are approximately 18 to 24 inches apart.
Planting garlic now allows the roots to establish and the foliage to emerge slightly before a hard freeze. If you plant garlic too early, too much foliage emerges and is damaged by freezing temperatures.
Garlic can be fertilized at the time of planting, at the time of green growth beginning in the spring and again after about six weeks. Fertilization of course, depends on your soil test in order to determine how much fertilizer is needed.
After planting, you can mulch the garlic bed to prevent winter annuals from growing and causing problems next spring. Garlic doesn’t compete well with weeds.
Straw or grass clippings mixed with leaves can be used as a mulch at this time.
Once the weather warms in the spring, garlic will resume growth and the foliage eventually yellows. When this happens, it’s ready for harvest.