Growing Garlic in Your Garden: From Fall Planting to Year-Round Storage

Garlic is one of the most forgiving garden crops you can grow. You plant it in the fall, walk away for eight months, and harvest in the middle of summer when most other things are struggling in the heat. It does not need much water. It does not need much fertilizer. It pushes pests away instead of inviting them. And properly cured, a single bulb planted in October will feed your cooking for most of the next year.

In Zone 7a, garlic thrives because it gets what it needs: a cool autumn for root establishment, a cold winter for vernalization, a long spring for bulb development, and a hot, dry summer for ripening. If you have ever eaten fresh garden garlic, you know it tastes nothing like the store-bought kind. It is brighter, more complex, and more fragrant. The difference is worth the small effort it takes to grow it.

This guide covers how to get started: choosing varieties, preparing your planting bed, the fall planting process, seasonal care through the winter and spring, how to know when to harvest, curing your bulbs, and storing them so they last through winter.

Hardneck vs. Softneck: Picking the Right Type

Garlic falls into two main groups, and the type you choose determines almost everything about how it grows, tastes, and stores.

Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck varieties produce a flowering stalk called a scape in early summer. If you leave the scape on, the bulb will be smaller. If you remove it, the plant puts its energy into the bulb instead. Hardneck garlic has a narrower, tougher central stalk that makes it slightly harder to peel but gives it a more robust and complex flavor. Most hardnecks divide into fewer, larger cloves per bulb.

Hardnecks store for about four to six months. They are better for roasting and fresh eating. In Tennessee, hardnecks perform well in the cooler parts of Zone 7a, especially at higher elevations.

Recommended hardneck varieties for Zone 7a:

• Music: Tennessee-bred, reliable, good flavor, stores well for a hardneck
• Chesnok Red: Strong flavor, attractive purple-streaked cloves, widely available
• Purple Glazer: Bold flavor, striking appearance, good for roasting
• Red German: Classic hardneck, strong garlic flavor, widely adapted

Softneck Garlic

Softneck varieties do not produce a scape. They have a flexible stem that can be braided, which is why softnecks are the kind you see in grocery stores. They tend to divide into more, smaller cloves per bulb. Softnecks generally have a milder flavor than hardnecks and store longer, eight to twelve months under good conditions.

Softnecks perform better in the warmer parts of Zone 7a and are more forgiving if your winter is mild.

Recommended softneck varieties for Zone 7a:

• Inchelium Red: Excellent flavor, good for both fresh eating and storage
• California White: Mild flavor, good keeper, widely grown in the West
• California Early: Earlier maturing, good for milder winter areas
• German Red Garlic: Technically a softneck variant, strong flavor, stores well

If you are new to growing garlic, start with hardneck. The scape production gives you a bonus crop in June that many people find surprising and delightful. You can always try softneck next season.

When and How to Plant

Timing

In Zone 7a, plant garlic in late October through November. The goal is to give the cloves enough time to establish roots before the ground freezes, but not so much time that they send up green shoots before winter. You want a root system, not a plant.

If you miss the fall window, you can plant in early spring, but your harvest will be smaller. Spring-planted garlic does not get the full vernalization period that fall-planted garlic does, and vernalization is what triggers proper bulb formation. If you must plant in spring, use cloves that have been refrigerated for at least six weeks to simulate winter.

Preparing your cloves

Use seed garlic from a reputable grower or nursery. Do not use grocery store garlic for planting. Most store-bought garlic is treated with growth inhibitors to prevent sprouting, and many varieties shipped to the United States are not adapted to Zone 7a climates.

About one to two weeks before planting, separate the bulb into individual cloves. Leave the papery skin on each clove. Select the largest, healthiest cloves for planting. Smaller cloves can be eaten. Do not separate the cloves until right before you plant them, or they will dry out.

Planting steps

Step one: prepare the bed. Garlic prefers loose, well-drained soil rich in organic matter. Work compost or well-rotted manure into the planting area to a depth of six to eight inches. Garlic does not like wet feet, so raised beds or a raised row work well in heavy clay soils common in eastern Tennessee.

Step two: space the cloves. Plant each clove pointy end up, about two inches deep and four to six inches apart. Rows should be about ten to twelve inches apart. A good rule of thumb: one bulb of seed garlic planted in a twelve-foot row will give you enough harvest to season meals for a family for a year.

Step three: cover and mulch. Cover the cloves with soil and then add a layer of mulch four to six inches thick. Straw works well. Shredded leaves also work. The mulch protects the cloves from extreme cold, retains moisture, and suppresses weeds. In Zone 7a, the mulch also helps prevent heaving, the process of freeze-thaw cycles pushing cloves partially out of the ground.

Step four: water it in. Water the planting bed well after planting. After that, garlic does not need much attention until spring.

Seasonal Care

Winter

Your garlic sits dormant under the mulch through winter. In Zone 7a, this is usually a hands-off period. If you have an extended dry spell and the ground has not received rain, a light watering every few weeks during winter can help. But garlic is generally low-maintenance through the cold months.

If you notice mulch washing away or cloves pushing up out of the ground after a heavy freeze, add more mulch to cover them.

Early Spring

When the weather warms, the garlic will push up through the mulch. You will see green shoots emerging, usually in March in Zone 7a. At this point, you can pull back some of the mulch around the shoots if you want, or leave it in place. Both approaches work.

This is when you do your only significant feeding. Side-dress with a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, compost, aged manure, or a balanced organic fertilizer, at a rate of about one pound per ten feet of row. Garlic uses most of its nitrogen early in the season. Do not overdo it. Too much nitrogen encourages leaf growth at the expense of bulb development and can make the garlic more susceptible to disease.

Water regularly in spring if rainfall is light. Garlic needs consistent moisture during bulb formation, which is the period from about May through June in Zone 7a. Inconsistent watering leads to small bulbs or split cloves.

Early Summer

This is when hardneck varieties send up their scapes, the curly flower stalks that are a hallmark of hardneck garlic. Remove the scape as soon as it curls into a loop. Cut it off at the base with a knife or snip it with garden shears. If you wait too long, the scape hardens and becomes tougher to remove.

Eat the scapes. They have a mild garlic flavor and are great in stir-fries, pesto, or pickled. Many gardeners find that selling scapes at a farmers market in June is a small but profitable side project.

If you are growing softneck garlic, this step does not apply. You will just have vegetative growth and then bulb development through the summer.

Harvesting

Knowing when to harvest

This is the part most gardeners get wrong. Do not wait until the garlic plants are completely brown. Wait until the bottom three to four leaves have turned brown but the top four to five leaves are still green.

At this point, the bulb is mature but has not yet started to break open in its wrappers. If you wait too long, the bulb will split apart in the ground, making it difficult to store well. If you dig too early, the bulbs will be small and will not store as long.

In Zone 7a, this usually happens in late June or early July, depending on the variety and the weather that year. Start checking your garlic in late June by carefully digging up one or two bulbs to inspect. The cloves should be plump and the bulb should have formed distinct segments.

How to dig

Use a garden fork to loosen the soil around the bulbs. Lift them gently. Do not pull by the stem, as you can easily break the plant and damage the bulb. Shake off excess soil but do not wash them. Do not trim the stems or roots yet. Leave the plant intact for curing.

Curing

Curing is the process of drying the bulbs so they can be stored for months. It is simple but essential. Skipping it means your garlic will rot in storage within a few weeks.

Step one: choose a curing location. Find a dry, shady, well-ventilated space. A covered porch, a garage with the door open, a shed with good airflow, or even a basement with a fan running all works. Do not cure garlic in direct sunlight, or the bulbs will cook and develop a sour flavor.

Step two: hang or lay out the garlic. You can hang garlic in bundles of five or six stalks, tied together at the base. Or you can lay individual bulbs on a screen or rack in a single layer. Both methods work. The important thing is good air circulation around every bulb.

Step three: wait three to four weeks. Let the garlic cure undisturbed. Check periodically for any signs of mold or rot and remove any bulbs that show problems. After three to four weeks, the stems should be completely dry and papery, the roots should be dry and brittle, and the outer skin should be dry enough to rustle when you touch it.

Step four: trim and clean. Once curing is complete, trim the stems to about one inch above the bulb. Trim the roots, leaving about half an inch. Remove any loose or dirty outer wrappers, but leave at least two layers of protective skin on the bulb. Bulbs with their skin intact store much better.

Storing

Store cured garlic in a cool, dry, dark place with good air circulation. Ideal storage temperature is 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not refrigerate garlic, as cold temperatures trigger sprouting. Do not store in sealed plastic bags, which trap moisture and cause rot.

Good storage options:

• Mesh bags in a cool pantry
• Braided softnecks hung in a shaded spot
• Wooden crates or wire baskets on a shelf
• Net bags hung in a garage or shed

Under good conditions, hardneck garlic stores for four to six months. Softneck garlic can last eight to twelve months. Check your stored garlic every few weeks and remove any bulbs that show signs of softening, sprouting, or mold.

A Note on Garlic Scapes

If you grow hardneck garlic, the scapes you remove in early summer are a bonus crop. They taste like a milder version of garlic, more like the white part of a green onion. They are tender enough to eat raw but also great cooked.

Here is what to do with a bunch of scapes:

• Chop them raw and mix into butter for garlic scape butter. Freeze it in small portions.
• Blend them into pesto with nuts, cheese, and olive oil.
• Pickle them in vinegar brine for a tangy condiment.
• Toss them into a stir-fry for the last minute of cooking.
• Chop and freeze them in ice cube trays with a little oil for quick use later.

A well-grown hardneck variety will produce one scape per plant. With ten plants, that is ten scapes to use or share. It is a nice surprise for people who only know garlic as a dried or refrigerated product.

Growing Garlic on a Small Scale

You do not need a large garden bed to grow garlic. Twelve to fifteen cloves in a four-foot row takes up very little space. A wide raised bed can easily fit two rows of garlic. Even a five-gallon bucket with soil can hold several cloves, just make sure it drains well and gets full sun.

Garlic is also a good companion plant. It deters some pests, and its scent can confuse carrot flies and other insects that target nearby vegetables. Plant a row of garlic alongside your carrots or between your tomatoes for a low-effort protective effect.

If you have a small flock of chickens, they will scratch through the mulch around your garlic. That is fine for established plants but can disturb newly planted cloves. Chicken wire over the planting area for the first few weeks after planting prevents the chickens from digging up your garlic.

A Practical Starting Plan

Here is the simplest path for someone who has never grown garlic:

This fall (October to November): Buy one bag of seed garlic, about ten to twelve cloves of a hardneck variety like Music or Chesnok Red. Prepare a small bed in full sun. Separate the cloves, plant them two inches deep and four inches apart, cover with soil, and add mulch.

March: When green shoots appear, side-dress with compost. Keep mulch in place.

May: Water regularly as temperatures rise. Watch for the first signs of bulbs forming.

June: Cut off the scapes as they curl. Continue watering.

July: When the bottom three to four leaves brown, dig up a test bulb. If it is plump, harvest the rest. Cure for three to four weeks in a dry, shady, ventilated space. Trim, clean, and store.

November (next fall): Buy more seed garlic and repeat. Use your stored harvest for cooking.

That is it. Twelve months and about an hour of real work. You will have fresh garden garlic on your table for most of the year, and you will never look at grocery store garlic the same way again.

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— C. Steward 🧄