How to Plant Garlic

The new in-ground beds we put in this year are putting in some serious work…the first two rows are for asparagus, but I’ve been doing greens and fava beans between those plants. The third row had sweet potatoes in it. But now that I’ve dug those up, it’s time to plant my garlic cloves!

I’m sharing my thoughts on seed garlic vs. planting store garlic, as well as my process for planting my garlic cloves in this bed. Check out the video outlining the process below, or read on for more 🙂

Step 1: Get garlic

The first step to planting your garlic is to get garlic! The ideal situation is to purchase seed garlic from a reliable retailer. I recommend checking out the stock at your local nursery—not a big box store. They are likely to have a variety of garlic that will grow well in your area.

I am growing seed garlic from my cousin Jimmy. He grows all of his garlic and then separates out a certain amount to use as seed garlic next year. And since it was free, I went with that! (Everything Jimmy grows is amazing, too.)

Many wonder if you can grow garlic using cloves from the grocery store. The answer is yes, but some bulbs are treated with anti-sprouting agents. Some also recommend avoiding store garlic because it isn’t guaranteed to disease free.

But if you want to give it a try, why not? Before I got garlic cloves from my cousin, I was planning to try out store garlic.

Step 2: Separate cloves

Next you’ll need to separate the cloves on your bulbs. Just as you would if you were cooking with it—but for planting your cloves, you don’t have to worry about removing the skins.

As you separate your cloves, look for any areas of rot (see the dark area in the second photo below). If there is any rot, you don’t have to chuck the whole bulb. Just avoid the cloves that are affected and keep the rest.

Step 3: Lay out planting plan

Once you have your cloves separated, I recommend laying them out where you’ll want to plant them. I spaced mine about 8-10 inches apart from one another. And I did two rows about 12 inches away from one another.

Step 4: Plant cloves

Then after everything is laid out, you can plant assembly-line style. Use your small shovel to dig a hole about 3-4 inches or so deep and plant each clove with the root side down. That’s what I’m pointing to in the first photo below.

Once everything is planted, I just let mother nature do the rest. The garlic will have all fall and winter to develop its root system, and then it will probably be one of the first things to sprout in the spring!

And as a little surprise…while I was planting my cloves, I found a huge sweet potato that I’d missed when I dug all of them up a few weeks ago! Since I’d already cured my sweet potatoes, I just took this one inside to chop up and air fry for dinner.

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