Before we get into this week’s letter, a quick note.
Every week I try to write about something that is genuinely useful to where you are right now in your homesteading journey. But the best topics are the ones that come directly from you, because if you are wondering about something, there are probably fifty other people on this list wondering the exact same thing.
So if there is a topic you want me to dig into, an animal you are trying to figure out, a system that is not working the way you hoped, or a question you have been sitting with, hit reply and tell me. Your question might become next week’s letter.
Now let’s get into this week.
There is one job in the fall garden that has a deadline that does not move and rewards you more than almost anything else you can plant.
That job is garlic. And if you are in most of the country right now, this week and the next few weeks are your window.
Miss it and you wait a full year to try again. Get it right and next July you pull the best garlic you have ever tasted out of the ground from something you put in yourself last October.
We have been planting garlic on our family farm for years and it has become one of the most anticipated harvests of the season. Not because garlic is complicated. It is one of the most forgiving things you can grow. But because there is something deeply satisfying about planting something in the fall, watching it push up green shoots in early spring when everything else is still dormant, and pulling cured bulbs off the shelf in January that you grew yourself.
This week is about how to do it right and why it is worth making time for even if you are busy winding down the rest of the garden.
Why garlic is planted in fall and not spring
Garlic needs a period of cold to develop into full bulbs. This process is called vernalization and without it the plant puts all its energy into leaves rather than forming the underground cloves you actually want to eat.
When you plant in fall, the clove goes into the ground, starts establishing roots before the freeze, then goes dormant through winter. Come spring, that established root system sends up strong growth fast and the plant uses the long days of late spring and early summer to form and swell the bulb before harvest in June or July.
Spring-planted garlic can be done but the results are almost always disappointing compared to fall planting. Smaller bulbs, fewer cloves, less flavor. Fall planting is not a preference. It is how garlic works best.
When to plant where you are
The general rule is to plant garlic four to six weeks before your ground freezes hard. You want the cloves to establish roots before winter but you do not want significant top growth before the cold arrives. Top growth that gets hit by hard frost can be set back, though garlic is tough enough to usually recover.
For most of the Midwest, Northeast, and upper South, late October through mid-November is the sweet spot. If you are in a colder zone, the earlier end of that window applies. If you are in zone 7 or warmer, you have more flexibility and can plant through November without problem. In the deep South and warmest zones, garlic is planted even later, sometimes as late as December or January, because the ground does not freeze and the vernalization comes from the cool winter temperatures rather than frozen ground.
The practical test: if the soil is still workable with a trowel and nighttime temperatures are consistently in the thirties and forties but you have not had a hard sustained freeze yet, you are in the window. Plant now.
Which garlic to plant
This is where most beginners make their first mistake, and it is an easy one to make because grocery store garlic is right there and it is cheap.
Do not plant grocery store garlic.
Most commercial garlic is treated to inhibit sprouting, which extends shelf life for sale but makes it a poor candidate for planting. Even if it does sprout, commercial garlic is almost always softneck varieties selected for shelf life and storage rather than flavor, and it may carry diseases from wherever it was grown that you do not want in your soil.
Buy seed garlic from a reputable source. Seed garlic is just garlic grown and selected specifically for planting, with clean disease history and known variety characteristics. It is sold by variety and that matters because garlic falls into two main categories with real differences between them.
Hardneck garlic is what most serious homestead growers prefer. It produces a central stalk called a scape in late spring that you can harvest and eat before pulling the bulb in summer. The cloves are larger, fewer per bulb, and the flavor is generally more complex and robust. Hardneck varieties do not store as long as softnecks, typically four to six months, but the flavor and the scapes make them worth it for most home growers.
Rocambole, purple stripe, and porcelain are all hardneck varieties worth knowing. German Red, Music, and Chesnok Red are specific varieties with strong reputations for flavor and reliability.
Softneck garlic is what you almost always see in the grocery store. It stores longer, sometimes up to a year, and it is what you braid if you want to hang garlic in the kitchen. It performs better in warmer climates where winters are mild. California Early and California Late are common softneck varieties.
For most homesteaders in the Midwest and Northeast, hardneck varieties are the better choice. For gardeners in zone 7 and warmer, either works and softneck has the advantage of longer storage.
Where to get seed garlic right now: local feed stores and farm supply stores often carry it in fall. Local farmers markets sometimes sell it in September and October. Online sources include Keene Organics, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and Filaree Garlic Farm, though if you order online check shipping times as many sources sell out by late October.
If you cannot find seed garlic this week, ask a neighbor or local gardener who grows it. Most people who grow garlic replant a portion of their own harvest every year and often have extra cloves to share. That is also how you get varieties that are proven performers in your specific climate and soil.
How to plant it
Garlic is one of the most straightforward things you can put in the ground. Here is the whole process.
Choose a bed with good drainage and full sun. Garlic does not like wet feet, especially in winter. If your soil is heavy clay that holds water, amend with compost before planting or raise the bed slightly. Beyond drainage, garlic is not particularly picky about soil as long as it is reasonably fertile.
Add a couple inches of compost to the bed and work it in shallowly. If you have not fed that bed much this season, a handful of balanced organic fertilizer worked in alongside the compost gives the cloves a good start.
Separate your bulb into individual cloves the day you plant, not weeks ahead. Each clove becomes one plant and one bulb at harvest. The bigger the clove you plant, the bigger the bulb you harvest. Save your largest cloves for planting and use your smaller ones in the kitchen.
Plant each clove with the pointed end up and the flat root end down. This sounds obvious until you are moving quickly and start putting them in sideways. Depth is about two to three inches from the tip of the clove to the soil surface. Spacing is four to six inches between cloves in rows about eight to twelve inches apart. Closer spacing is fine and gives you more production per square foot if you are working in a raised bed.
After planting, mulch heavily. Three to four inches of straw, shredded leaves, or wood chips over the bed does several things. It moderates soil temperature through winter and early spring so the cloves do not freeze and thaw repeatedly. It retains moisture. And it suppresses the weeds that will want to come up right alongside your garlic in early spring when you would rather not be weeding.
Mark your rows or your bed clearly. Garlic shoots in early spring look like grass and more than one gardener has accidentally weeded out their garlic in March because they forgot what was planted there.
Water in after planting if it has been dry. Then mostly leave it alone until spring.
What happens next
In most climates you will see green shoots emerge before winter really sets in. That is normal and expected. The top growth may get knocked back by hard frost, which is also fine. The root system underground is what matters and it keeps developing through winter even when the soil is cold.
In early spring, usually February or March depending on your climate, the garlic will push up strong new growth. This is when it benefits from a light application of nitrogen, a handful of blood meal or a balanced organic fertilizer worked into the soil surface around the emerging plants.
In late spring, hardneck varieties send up scapes, those curling central stalks. Cut them off when they make one full curl. Removing the scape redirects the plant’s energy into the bulb rather than into producing seed. Scapes are delicious sauteed with butter or blended into pesto and they are one of the rewards of growing hardneck varieties that you cannot get any other way.
Harvest comes in June or July when about half the leaves have browned and fallen. Do not wait until all the leaves are brown because by then the bulb wrappers will have started breaking down and the garlic will not cure well. Dig carefully rather than pulling, because the necks can break and broken-necked garlic does not cure for storage.
Cure the bulbs by hanging them in a warm dry place with good airflow for three to four weeks before trimming the tops and roots and moving to storage. Properly cured hardneck garlic stores well for four to six months in a cool dry location.
Why it is worth making time for this week
October is a busy month on a homestead. There is always more to do than there is time for and the garden cleanup feels like the lowest-priority item compared to animal care and infrastructure.
But garlic is the exception I would make time for even in the busiest fall.
It takes thirty minutes to plant a meaningful amount of it. It asks almost nothing of you through the winter. And next summer when you are pulling bulbs out of the ground that you planted yourself, curing them in the barn, and cooking with garlic that tastes completely different from anything in the grocery store, thirty minutes in late October will feel like one of the better investments you made all year.
The window is open right now. Plant this week.
One thing to do today
Find seed garlic. Check your local farm store, farmers market, or ask a neighbor who gardens. If you need to order online, do it today before stock runs out. Then clear a bed, add compost, and get it in the ground before the end of the week.
Until next Tuesday,
Tim Parker
Start My Homestead
Most homesteaders learn by repeated mistakes. We are here to help reduce the cost of those mistakes.
P.S. If you planted garlic last fall and pulled your first real harvest this summer, hit reply and tell me how it went. First harvests are always memorable and I want to hear about yours.
