There’s a certain sort of heartbreak associated with harvesting a single head of garlic the size of a marble. Yes, you planted it; yes, maybe you paid extra for fancy seed stock, but what do you get? You gets a couple of sorry-looking cloves barely worth using as garnish in a stir fry.
Success at growing garlic isn’t magic (or even luck); it has little to do with anything except timing, spacing, and not cutting any corners when the planting moment arrive. Garlic gets treated casually by most home gardeners, as an afterthought, like anyone throws a handful of their remaining cloves in the ground whenever it seems convenient. The chart above explains why approaching it as a well-structured process instead of a haphazard act of gardening pay off.
How to Grow Big Garlic
When to plant those cloves in the ground is perhaps the most important question of all. And one with an answer: Fall. There’s good reason why fall-planted garlic are the gold standard. To build its root system, garlic requires that cool, resting time before winter freeze sets in. Planting in spring, well, you’re always racing the clock (and usually losing). Without an extended slow start to encourage proper size and layering, the bulbs often produce heads that is smaller than they should of been.
If you find yourself with no choice but to plant in spring, perhaps your local climate is too severe, or you got a late start, you can minimize negative effects somewhat. You can trick the bulb by pre-chilling your cloves in the fridge for a few weeks to mimic their natural exposure to winter dormancy. This will improve bulbing significanly. It is a small hack, but it matters.
The other part is actual doing of it, which takes some patience once you’ve figured out when. Ideally, you want to plant in loose soil that drain well; amending with compost is good. But don’t do what I did and try to plant in heavy clay. Soggy soil will rot the cloves sooner then cold weather can.
What about spacing? Don’t go too crazy tight; bigger bulbs wants wider space, though if you’re after green garlic for eating as whole thing, including the stalk, then closer is fine. Elephant garlic wants much more room than typical softneck types (see infographic). These types also differ from each other. Give them some breathing room. They’ll get smaller and misshapen otherwise, and they won’t make full-sized heads if they’re competing for resources. Rule of thumb: don’t be greedy.
The second level of complicating this can be choosing the proper variety. Generally speaking, softnecks braid and store well, which is why they dominate the grocery store aisle. Hardneck varieties has more subtle flavor and also yield what many consider to be a delicacy: those lovely curling flower stalks called scapes that is great sauteed. Hardnecks really prefer cooler temperatures and frankly aren’t as easy to cultivate in the hotter zones, while softnecks are more tolerant of heat but take care not to rot out in humid weather. You must check your USDA zone and select an appropriate variety. There is no sense in sowing a variety adapted to cold weather in a hot, humid southern climate.
Soil pH is a subtler but no less critical player. Slightly acid-to-neutral is good for garlic’s growth. When they’re growing in an overly alkaline soil, some key nutrients aren’t available to them; leaves turn yellow, and growth becomes stunted. Save yourself months of wondering what’s wrong by having your soil tested. Adjustments with either lime (if the pH is too high) or sulfur (if it’s too low) will set things right… But again, best to do this prior to planting. Don’t wait till the tops gets sad.
Mulch: That’s your last hurrah, just before winter comes; a thick layer of leaves or even better, of straw to insulate the ground from frost heave, which pops the cloves right out off the earth and kills them, and to smother weeds that otherwise siphon off moisture.
In spring, you’ll push aside the mulch a bit as the shoots emerge, then by summer you’ll see if you did it correctly: Their tops start browning and then it’s time to dig up the bulbs. Those beautiful big heads are your pay-off for each careful step you’ve taken months earlier. It all begins with that one choice, when to plant in fall.