If you’ve tried growing garlic and your bulbs turned out small, it might be because you planted it in spring. If you want full-sized bulbs bursting with great garlic flavor, plant your garlic in the fall and harvest it the next summer.
Garlic is a cold-hardy root veggie, and in most climates, you’ll get much better results with fall planting.
Try to plant your garlic about a month before your ground freezes, so the plants have time to get established. During winter, the crop will go dormant; then once spring and warmer temps roll around again, your plants will experience a burst of growth. By summer harvest time, you’ll marvel at the success of your crop!
This photo illustrates the size difference between spring-planted garlic (left), which pales in comparison to the impressive fall-planted batch (right).
For more information about planting and growing great garlic, see All About Growing Garlic.
Shelley Stonebrook is MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine’s main gardening editor. She’s passionate about growing healthy, sustainable food and taking care of our environment. Follow her on Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.
Photo by Sean Rosner
