Garlic Seed Planting Instructions

Each of these garlic cloves is a potential garlic plant.

Garlic, unlike most other plants, does not grow from true seeds. Instead, the cloves of garlic that form the heads you buy in grocery stores are actually what garlic grows from. Garlic purchased in grocery stores is usually treated with chemicals that inhibit growth. Purchase seed garlic instead from reputable garden suppliers. Plant garlic in the fall, as it requires at least a month of temperatures below freezing to form heads of garlic that can be harvested.

Things You'll Need

• Shovel
• Hand trowel
• Fertilizer
• Mulch

Instructions

1. Dig in compost in a one-to-one ratio with the soil where you want to plant the garlic, using a shovel. Do this in late fall, but before the first frost of the season. Wait for a couple of frosts to pass, but do not wait so long that the ground is too hard to work.

2. Plant individual seed garlic cloves, pointed end up, in holes 2 inches deep and at least 4 inches apart.

3. Cover with soil, then cover with a 2- to 3-inch layer of mulch. Wait until spring for garlic shoots to emerge.

4. Apply a good all-purpose vegetable fertilizer according to package instructions after shoots are 2 inches high. Follow the fertilizer manufacturer's application instructions.

Tips & Warnings

• If you decide to try planting garlic purchased at a supermarket, have backup seed garlic purchased from a reputable seed supplier. Try planting them side by side to note any differences. Supermarket garlic may sprout, but growth may be severely stunted because of chemical growth inhibitors.

• Do not try planting garlic in the spring. You will have sprouts, and they may even send up flower stalks that produce bulbils. Bulbils look like tiny cloves of garlic dangling off the flower stalk, and they can be planted like traditional cloves of garlic that grow underground. However, they do not always grow, and are slow to grow if you are successful. Garlic planted in the spring will not produce heads of garlic cloves underground for culinary and seed use.

• Do not overfertilize. Overfertilization can lead to fertilizer burn, where too much of a nutrient harms a plant instead of helping it.

References

• University of Minnesota Extension: Growing Garlic in Minnesota
• Texas A&M University Aggie Horticulture: Onion Planting
• University of Illinois Extension: Time to Plant Garlic

Resources

• United States National Arboretum: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map
• United States Department of Agriculture: Cooperative Extension System Offices