Discover the optimal time to plant garlic as you explore the advantages of fall planting, ensuring a thriving garlic crop that will enhance your garden and culinary endeavors.
Here’s a great tip from Mother Earth News–if you plant garlic in the fall and harvest it next spring, you’ll have bigger, better bulbs.
According to the site:
Try to plant your garlic about a month before your ground freezes, so the plants have time to get established. During winter, the crop will go dormant; then once spring and warmer temps roll around again, your plants will experience a burst of growth. By summer harvest time, you’ll marvel at the success of your crop!
The above picture, also from the site, illustrates the difference between planting garlic in the fall versus the spring.
I have learned, living in Zone 2, that garlic planted in the fall, should have a good heavy mulch over top of it. I lost my entire crop this past year due to a wonky freeze/thaw cycle, something that I could have avoided if I had know to mulch over it to protect it.
THat’s good to know. I will mulch, just to be safe, even though I live in California.