How to Prepare Your Garden Beds for Planting Garlic
Whether you’ve got raised beds, in-ground beds, or containers, you’ll want to prepare them for growing garlic. A few actions during fall ensure bountiful harvests come late summer. Follow these easy steps from longtime garlic grower Jerad Bryant to turn cloves into giant bulbs!
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Preparation is everything when gardening. Ordering seed garlic, amending soil, clearing debris, and pulling weeds help decrease future workloads. If you do some now, you’ll have less work in summer when there’s often too much!
Preparing garden beds for garlic is relatively easy, although it involves some additions and planning. You’ll need compost or mulch, a rake, and plenty of cloves or bulbils. Bulbils are mini cloves that sprout from overgrown scapes. Give either cloves or bulbils a site with full sun and consistent airflow.
Here are more specific details about how to prepare your beds for this culinary favorite!
Choose Your Garlic Variety
We must choose a variety first before digging in the dirt. Different types need different amounts of space. First, select which type you want, and then you can plot out how many cloves you’ll plant.
Hardneck and softneck types have equal spacing requirements—the main difference is that hardneck types produce bulbils, and they need less space than cloves. Elephant types need the most space of all varieties, and they are more closely related to leeks.
Hardneck
I try not to play favoritism, but hardneck garlic is spectacular! These types are easy to peel, harvest, and grow. Their main downside is that they generally last half as long as softneck types in storage, for four to eight months instead of twelve. Grow some of these types, and you’ll understand why they’re ranked high by professional chefs.
Hardneck varieties need at least six inches of space between each other to swell into big bulbs. Plant them among your other crops, or dedicate an entire bed to these delectable bulbs. Situate them in rows 15” apart if you’re growing them without other crops nearby.
Softneck
Softneck varieties, like hardneck ones, need at least six inches of space. They beat out hardneck types in survivability, as they last six to twelve months in dry storage! They’re also better for warm climates, as they need less cold vernalization to morph from cloves into bulbs. Use any of these varieties in warm winter zones for a steady supply of homegrown flavor.
Although tasty, these types do not grow scapes. They’ve got thin layerings that form leaves from around the bulbs, rather than from a central stalk. No scapes means no bulbils, so you’ll plant softneck cloves rather than bulbils.
Elephant
This unique cultivar is a garlicky leek! Its scientific name is Allium ampeloprasum, and it’s in the lily family, like onions. One giant clove turns into a bulb full of giant cloves! This type is excellent if you cook recipes with lots of alliums. Its flavor is milder than softneck or hardneck types, so you might need to use more than you normally would when cooking.
Elephant garlic needs about twelve inches of space from other plants. They’ll reach ginormous proportions in a year! Elephant types produce scapes, although they’ll grow into seeds rather than bulbils. They also form corms underground off their main bulbs—grow these annually for a continuous supply.
Select Cloves or Bulbils
You’ll find different spacing requirements for different propagation materials. First, select which type you’ll purchase to know how much garden space you’ll need.
If you’re growing softneck varieties, your only choice is to use cloves. Hardneck growers can choose between cloves and bulbils or both! Elephant types are unique because they readily forms seeds when its scapes fully flower.
Choose cloves, seeds, or corms when growing elephant varieties—note though, that seeds germinate less readily than corms and cloves.
Cloves
Cloves swell into full-sized bulbs by late summer. Plant them during fall, and they’ll separate into multiple sections throughout winter. By spring, a leafy stalk arises and collects energy from the sun for bulb production.
Ensure they’ll have at least six inches of space between each other, or eight to twelve for elephant garlic. Bury them at least two inches deep in your soil.
Bulbils
Bulbils need less space. Give them an inch’s distance between each other. They’ll also divide themselves over winter like cloves, although they’ll form small bulbs by late summer. You’ll take these out, separate them, and plant them again to have full-sized bulbs in another year.
Clear Garden Debris
You’ve chosen your variety, type of propagation, and garden site. Now you’re ready to get digging! The first step in bed preparation is clearing any garden debris from summer. As you prepare and plant garlic beds during fall, remove dead or diseased garden material from the past season.
You’ll want to especially remove diseased foliage from any plants in the lily family; this includes onions, leeks, and garlic. Doing this prevents diseases from overwintering in your beds, allowing your crop to sprout in spring without any issues.
Remember to throw away any diseased plant matter. Do not compost it, as diseases can spread through your finished compost into your garden.
Pull Weeds
Some gardeners loathe this activity, although it can be peaceful when you choose to do it. Pulling weeds ensures your bulbs suck up all the nutrients and moisture available without other plants stealing these valuable resources. Some common garden weeds to watch out for are dandelions, European selfheal, and spotted spurge.
For this crop, a weed is any plant growing within three to six inches of its stem. Keep your garden beds weed-free, and you’ll avoid foreign plant infestations.
Pull invasive plants during cool mornings or afternoons, and leave them on top of the soil during hot days. They’ll decompose, acting as a mulch and adding nutrients to your soil. Avoid doing this for weeds with seed heads, or ones that root readily from their stems. Dispose of them away from your precious crops.
Amend Your Soil
If you’ve got sandy, clay, or nutrient-poor soil, you’ll need to prepare your garden bed with amendments before planting garlic. The best thing to do is mix compost in your garden two to four weeks before planting. This gives worms, fungi, and bacteria ample time to settle under the dirt and digest nutrients. Throughout fall and winter, compost creates a cozy environment for your plants.
Mix in compost ahead of time, and add a thin layer of mulch on top of the soil after planting garlic. This creates a snug home, and it provides ample nutrients for garlic to suck up once warm weather arrives. If your soil is particularly nutrient-poor, consider adding a quarter dose of organic fertilizer into the mulch or compost, then mix it in with your soil.
If soils are thick with clay or contain more sand than anything else, consider growing garlic in containers or raised beds while you amend your soil. Creating lush, rich garden dirt takes longer for poor soils than for partially fertile ones. Give your soil lots of compost or mulch this year, and it should be ready for planting next fall.
Plant in the Fall
You should plant garlic two to four weeks before your first average frost date. I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I always plant the day after Thanksgiving. The goal is to get them in the ground while temperatures are cold but not freezing. This allows them to grow roots that anchor them down throughout winter storms. Depending on your growing zone, plant no later than the following months.
| Zone | Planting Time |
| 0-3 | September |
| 4-5 | Early October |
| 6-7 | Late October |
| 8-10 | October through November |
| 11-12 | December through January, after 1-2 months of refrigeration |
If you already have snow in your garden beds, it’s too late to plant garlic, but you can prepare for next year by planning, ordering, and researching. Freezing soil kills the plants before they put down roots. Avoid putting this crop into the ground too early, as premature top growth threatens its survival.
Can You Plant Garlic in Spring?
These preparation steps are typically for fall plantings, although they’re also helpful for spring plantings. When planting in spring, ensure cloves have undergone proper cold vernalization inside your fridge for one to two months. Skip refrigeration if you want giant cloves or are growing garlic for edible greens.
While you can plant in spring, spring planting has different results depending on how you’ve treated your plants.
Snow garlic, also known as Kashmiri garlic, is a delicacy that looks like a giant single clove. Grow this yourself by planting late, from spring through early summer. The bulb swells without dividing, creating a giant clove!
Let’s say you just missed your fall planting date. You can still grow bulbs by putting your cloves in your fridge during winter. Take them out and plant them as spring warmth arrives; they’ll bulb up just like fall-planted garlic, giving you a sizable harvest in late summer.
The final reason for planting in spring is for edible shoots—this crop grows greens much like onions. Use these fresh in salads, cook them lightly, or blend them in sauces and pestos. To grow greens, all you need to do is plant cloves any time of year. No refrigeration is required!
Key Takeaways
- Prepare garden beds for garlic early to ensure proper timing.
- Prevent diseases and pests from overwintering by removing all diseased or dead plant debris from your garden beds. Compost it away from your garden, or use it as mulch around trees or shrubs.
- Garlic likes well-draining, fertile soil. Amend your soil so it is humus-rich with good drainage—use compost or organic mulches.
- Plant in the fall; if you missed your planting date, plant it in spring after one to two months of refrigeration.
