Garlic is an easy crop in New England and it’s great to have something to look forward to for next year before winter arrives. You will never accept store bought garlic after you’ve had fresh garlic from your own garden.  Mild temperatures have caused me to delay planting this year but now through mid-November is the time to sow your garlic, along with other bulbs for next spring.  Let’s look at a few tricks to have a successful garlic crop year and some tips about soil testing.

As with anything we grow the first decision is which variety to select.  We should always try to get the best varieties for our local conditions.  Garlic includes over 10 varieties and it can be divided into two major groups, “Hardneck” and “Softneck”.  Both are good and can be grown in Vermont, but most people favor Hardneck for its hardiness and great flavor.  Softneck garlic is the principal garlic grown commercially in California and stores very well.  Personally, I’ve had best luck with Hardnecks but you can try either. 

Garlic doesn’t produce reliable quantities of seeds so is propagated “vegetatively” from the cloves.  That means the genetics of the next generation will be the same as the parents and if you have a variety that does well, and you like the flavor you can stick with it by keeping some of your own bulbs to plant for next year.  A good rule of thumb to estimate quantity needed to plant is that a pound of garlic bulbs will have up to 50 cloves.  Not all the cloves will be large enough to plant (eat the smallest ones!) so you may end up with 40 cloves to plant.  That’s enough for a 20 ft. row. Bigger cloves produce bigger, more vigorous plants. Do not try to plant supermarket garlic because it may have been treated with an anti-growth chemical to extend shelf-life (it’s not fresh!) and some garlic has even had its roots cut out to hide any diseases it might carry.  Source your seed garlic locally to get started and then save your own each year.

Saving your own garlic for re-planting year after year is economical but also makes great garden sense.  Every garden has a unique set of conditions including soil, micro-climate, and biology.  If you select and save the biggest heads of your own garlic for planting, you will be taking advantage of natural selection to improve your own garlic each year.  I have been saving my own best garlic for over ten years by selecting out the biggest, best-looking bulbs for planting.  I have seen rewarded with ever larger plants and bulbs that are now over double the size of the original garlic with fantastic flavor.  Just as my “Fenn Selection” is best suited for my local conditions, your garlic will become a superior cultivar adapted to your own soil and microclimate.

Whether you purchased “seed garlic” or saved some of your own late October & November is planting season.  I’ve read that you can plant garlic until the soil starts to freeze or is snow covered.  What’s important is that the bulbs get just enough time to begin growing their roots but not enough time to send a shoot above the ground that gets frozen and dies back.  The small roots will give the garlic a head start come early spring and the over wintering provides the necessary cold treatment garlic needs to form bulbs next summer.

Alliums (onions & garlic) are all heavy feeders so do best in deep, fertile, well-drained (never water-logged) soils.  As with all root crops, the deeper soil provided by a raised bed will encourage better growth.  A soil pH of 6-7 is ideal so a soil test is recommended (see the details below).  Since garlic is an early spring grower, it’s best to put the essential nutrients in the soil when planting.  My practice is to apply a layer of compost (1-2 inches deep) over the bed surface.  No need to work it in, nature will take care of that over the winter and create rich organic matter that garlic needs.  I plant a double row spaced about 1 foot apart in raised beds by digging two parallel long trenches with a hoe or trench tool to a depth of 4-5 inches.  Before planting I then apply a sprinkled layer of rock phosphate or colloidal phosphate plus azomite (for micronutrients) mixed 50-50 along the trench bottom to make the soil snowy white.  Bone meal would do the same plus provide some nitrogen.  These are organic, slow release sources of phosphate, potassium, and calcium needed for early growth in spring.

Plant the selected cloves, pointy end up and the flat, root end down (yes, it matters) spaced about 6 inches apart.  Too close and your bulbs will tend to be smaller as each plant needs root space.  Cover the planted trench with soil and gently tamp it down. The top of each clove should be about 1-2 inches below the surface when covered.  Mark the ends of each row with visible stakes so you will know where to watch for the first shoots of spring.  Finally, cover your garlic bed with about 4-6 inches of straw mulch, very gently tamped down so fall winds don’t blow it away.  The straw is very important to prevent freezing and heaving of the cloves during winter plus it will suppress the spring growth of weeds and keep the young plants moist during their critical early summer growth.

By the way, the same mix of rock phosphate & azomite or bone meal is an excellent way to boost any other bulbs you plant in the fall.  Give each bulb (tulip, daffodil, crocus, lilies, etc.) about a level teaspoon of this starter and they will have the nutrients for strong roots and vigorous growth for several years to come.

Soil Testing    Fall is the best time to enrich soil but it’s important to know what your soil condition is before adding anything.  The key soil characteristics of soil pH (acidity) soil nutrients are vital to healthy, productive soil and can be best improved before winter so everything will be ready to go in the spring.  It’s the way Nature does it with leaves!

Do a basic soil test to learn the nutritional status of your soil.  Once you know about your soil pH, chemistry, etc. then you will know what additives will be most effective.  Do not assume that adding some lime and any fertilizer will work; it could be harmful and wasteful.  I don’t recommend using the inexpensive little soil test kits or electronic meters sold in stores.  Soil testing is best done by a soil lab because their methods are more accurate, and they provide specific recommendations for what you want to grow. 

The University of Vermont testing lab offers a basic garden/lawn soil analysis for just $17 and includes pH, macronutrients, and other characteristics.  You may use their kits available in many garden centers or simply download their order form and instructions HERE.  You will need to send them about ½ cup of air-dried soil in a sealed plastic bag along with the completed order form and payment.  Results will come back by mail or by email within 1-2 weeks and provide recommendations for what and how much to apply.  Please follow their instructions for How to Collect a Soil Sample, very important.

Don’t overlook the value of compost for your garden and yard.  Mower-shredded leaves plus kitchen wastes make a great compost.  See details in the previous article.  Here’s a new short video to help you get the most from all those leaves.

Finally, November is a good time to reflect and review what happened in your garden this year.  Take a walk and look around your yard & garden.  What did well, what didn’t do so well.  Observe what your garden is telling you.  Make notes for next year.