Garlic Planting Basics

Step-by-step planting guide

1. In Minnesota, garlic should be planted in October. We plant in early to mid October if the weather is cool but, mid to late October, if it's warm like this year.

2. Prepare garlic beds, remove plants and rake the soil to flatten the top of the bed (we grow our garlic in raised beds on the ground).

3. You can till if your soil is hard to work but is not required (soil needs to be loose around clove to allow space for bulb to grow).

4. Separate the cloves from the bulb, leaving the paper on each clove.

5. Using 6-8" between each clove, plant clove pointed end up, 2-3" deep (if you have the space, opt for 8" spacing). Do not plant too close together, because that produces small bulbs.

6. The small cloves can be planted but yield small bulbs. Many people plant these as companion plants, mixed into crops, in an attempt to keep pests (bugs, deer, etc.) away.

7. Once the cloves are planted, you can add a slow-release fertilizer (per manufacturers' directions) or composted manure and then dress the beds with 2-4'' of compost.

8. Then, cover the beds with about 2'' of straw, if available, since there are fewer weed seeds in straw (there are lots of weed seeds in hay) an alternative to straw is just the compost or you can use leaves (chopped into 1/2" or smaller pieces). Remember, the sprout has to be able to push through all of these layers.

9. The last step is to soak the bed with water and place something open (small branches, sticks, fencing, etc.) on top, to keep hay in place, on the many windy days to come.