Planting Garlic

Written by Jessica Davies

Garlic is planted in the fall. It is usually the last crop of the season to be planted. Adama Farm is located in Northern IL, so Garlic gets planted around mid-October, 4-6 weeks prior to freeze. From my experience, it is better to plant garlic late, rather than early. Make sure not to plant the garlic in wet soil; garlic seed is more susceptible to rotting in wet soil. I was planning on planting my garlic early October due to an early frost, but ended up waiting because we received 4 inches of rain.

Since Garlic is a heavy feeder, it’s important to fertilize garlic with a well rounded, all purpose organic fertilizer or compost.

At Adama Farm, our no-till beds are made up of organic compost. Before planting, I fertilized the garlic with a local and organic garlic fertilizer (5-2-2-1) from Keene Garlic.

Quick Growing Guide:

• Separate the cloves from the bulb.

• Fertilize the area you plan on planting.

• Plant garlic into prepared soil about 4-6 inches deep, 9-12 inches apart. Make sure that the root side of the clove is facing down.

• Cover the tip of the clove with about 1-2 inches of soil.

• Cover all garlic with 3-6 inches of mulch and wait until the spring to see the garlic pop up! I used weed free straw mulch to cover the garlic beds.

• In the Spring and Summer, weed often.

• If you planted hard-neck garlic like me, pick all of the scapes off the garlic plant in June. Garlic scapes are super tasty and can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. Eat them!

• Harvest the garlic when 50% of the leaves are dried, yellowish brown in color.

• Cure the garlic out of the sun and in an area with good air flow. Curing could take about 3 weeks.

• Properly store the garlic so it may last as long as possible. Enjoy.