5 Important Tips For Growing And Harvesting Garlic For Beginners

Updated: August 2023 – one year later and I harvested my second round of garlic! It was absolutely beautiful! 150+ of garlic bulbs total – pictures at the end of post. Quite incredible from only 67 last year if you ask me! Learn from my beginners mistakes with this post about garlic growing for beginners.

Gardening comes with learning curves and there was no exception for my first time growing and harvesting garlic. Here’s what I learned about growing garlic for beginners.

I grew and harvested 67 garlic bulbs for the first time this past Fall – Summer. Being a beginner, I did a lot wrong, but I thought since it was such a learning experience for me, that I would share with you what I learned.

5 Important Tips I Learned After Growing And Harvesting Garlic For The First Time

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Growing and Harvesting Garlic for beginners

Growing Garlic for Beginners

If I’m being honest, I had no idea what I was doing when I put this garlic into the ground. My cousin had told me that I was still able to plant garlic even though it was December, so I thought why not!?

I cleared out a space in one of my raised beds and planted 67 little garlic cloves.

Here’s what I learned about growing garlic and what I’ll do differently next time:

1. Plant at the Proper Time

We live in zone 5b so we have very cold winters. The type of garlic I used was hard neck and therefore really needed the cold to grow the bulbs correctly.

I planted my garlic back in December, but would I have known better would have planted in October. This gives the garlic extra time to create a root system and grow before the cold weather really hits.

At the same time, you don’t want to plant too early. If you plant too early and the stems start to grow they can be harmed by the cold weather.

Do your research for your grow zone and go from there.

2. Spacing

Garlic needs adequate spacing to allow the bulbs to grow to a decent size.

When I planted mine, I thought I was planting about 4 inches apart but after they settled into place it was only about 2 inches. This left the bulbs to compete for space creating very small bulbs.

You also don’t want a bunch of weeds in with the garlic, this also creates an environment where they need to compete for space. Remember, they are a root vegetable so they need all the room they can get to grow properly.

3. Water Consistently

At the beginning when I planted my garlic, I covered it with leaves and straw and let it go. What I failed to do when they weather go warm was to water consistently. I got into the habit of just letting the garlic go that I would skip over it completely when I would water the rest of the garden. Crazy, right?

Thankfully the last month or two I did start watering the garlic more. I’m really curious to see next time the difference in size by watering more consistently.

4. Fertilize

One thing I wish I did was take fertilizing my garlic a bit more seriously. Again, I was in the habit of just letting the garlic do it’s thing, plant it and forget it. I am told that root vegetables really need nitrogen in order to thrive.

You can get nitrogen from fish emulsions.

What I Learned About Harvesting Garlic

When garlic is ready to be harvested, the bottom 4 leaves or so will turn yellowish brown. If you don’t harvest the garlic soon enough, the bulbs will begin to split and that is not something that you want.

No matter when you plant your garlic, it will be ready to harvest in July. So for bigger bulbs, you want to plant them in the Fall.

When you harvest the bulbs, you want to be gentle and not just rip them right out of the ground. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this until after I had already done so. You want to use a small shovel or fork and dig around the bulbs to gently loosen the root.

You also want to be careful when removing the dirt from the bulbs. Be careful not to peel off the outer layers, you want these to protect the bulbs when they are drying.

Once they are all removed, in order to cure them you want to leave them laying in the sun for a couple hours to dry out a bit. Once that time is up you will then hang them up to dry or lay them flat in a cool, dry, dark space.

Here’s what I’ll do differently next time

5. Leave Roots In Tact

I learned that when to remove the roots is a controversial topic and people can’t seem to agree on when they need to be removed.

Again, I didn’t learn this until after I had already cut off the roots using a small knife.

Next time, I will allow the garlic to lay flat to dry in the sun for a few hours. Then, I will take scissors and trim the roots but not cut off completely. I will then hang them up to dry for about two weeks or so until they have dried out and the stems have died off.

growing garlic for beginners — You can see I cut the roots off completely

Harvesting Garlic for beginners — You can see I cut the roots off completely

Now, they are laying on the counter in our garage. My plan is to leave some to dry for two weeks but the rest I will freeze. I think this is my best option since I didn’t trim the roots properly and I am worried about a molding situation. Not to mention, if they are not cured properly they will not last in storage, which is the goal of curing.

What tips about growing and harvesting garlic can you share with me? I do have experience with gardening after 8 years, but I always love to learn everything I can about gardening.