It’s Easy To Grow Your Own Garlic- Here’s How

Whether your keeping vampires away or making a great Italian dish, garlic is one of the key ingredients.  And we all know the best ingredients are the freshest.  The Master Gardeners at Cornell Cooperative Extension show you how to grow your own garlic and it's easy.

There are three major types of garlic. There is the hardneck, softneck, and elephant garlic. Softneck garlic is the kind you generally find in most grocery stores and the variety you see braided. Elephant garlic produces a very large clove with a mild flavor but is less hardy. Hardneck garlic has a single ring of cloves enclosing a stiff central core. It is the most winter-hardy variety and tends to have a fuller flavor and it's best suited for our area.

Fall is the best time to plant garlic as it requires a lengthy growing season, benefits from a winter dormant period and the garlic can get an early start the following spring. It is best planted a month or so before the ground freezes. This is early enough for the cloves to send down roots that will anchor them against frost heaves, yet late enough to prevent the garlic tops from sprouting and exposing the plants to icy conditions.

The site to plant the garlic cloves should be in full sun in order to produce the largest bulbs. However, garlic will tolerate some shade. The soil should be rich, somewhat dry and deeply cultivated. Break garlic bulbs into unpeeled cloves, place the pointed end up during planting and the blunt edge down. Plant one to two inches deep and spaced a minimum of four to six inches apart in rows that are set at least a foot apart. Use the largest cloves from the bulb for planting and use smaller ones for cooking.

Buy cloves from a local garden center, local farmers market or mail order catalog. Grocery store garlic may have been treated, so it won’t sprout.

Before the ground freezes hard, mulch with a layer of leaves or straw to prevent bulbs from heaving. In the spring remove the mulch and spread with compost. Other than keeping the weeds at bay, garlic will do the rest by itself. In early summer, hardneck garlic sends up a stiff central stem known as a scape. These should be removed so the plant’s energy is directed to bulb formation. Then in late summer, when the bottom two or three leaves have turned yellow, it is time to harvest.

For more information on growing garlic or other gardening questions call the horticulture hotline Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00am to 12:00pm at 315-736-3394.

SOURCE: Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners