What you need to know.
Garlic is my favorite crop to plant because you put it in the ground in October, mostly ignore it through winter, and pull a full harvest in July. While everything else in the garden is dormant, garlic cloves are quietly sending roots down through cold soil. By spring they are shooting up green and healthy, and by midsummer you have real garlic — better tasting than anything from a store.
I grow both softneck and hardneck types. Softneck (like Inchelium Red or Silverskin) stores well for up to a year, which is why most grocery store garlic is softneck. Hardneck (like German Red or Chesnok Red) has more complex, nuanced flavor and produces edible scapes in spring, but does not store as long. I plant a mix of both every fall so I have quick-use garlic and long-storage garlic.
"Garlic is the only crop where I plant in October and harvest the following July. Nine months of patience for the best garlic I have ever tasted."
Step by step.
Break garlic heads into individual cloves right before planting — not weeks ahead. Plant each clove 2 inches deep, 6 inches apart, with the pointed end up. Use the largest cloves from your batch: bigger cloves make bigger bulbs. Small cloves make small bulbs.
If growing hardneck garlic, cut the scapes in spring — the curly green shoots that spiral up from the center of the plant. Cut them off at the base when they start to curl tightly. Scapes are edible and taste like mild garlic. Removing them redirects the plant's energy from seed-making into growing a larger bulb.
Harvest when the bottom three or four leaves have browned but the top four or five are still green. Each leaf corresponds to one papery wrapper layer on the bulb. Wait too long and the wrappers fall apart and the bulb will not cure or store properly. I pull a test bulb first to check.
When to plant in Zone 7b.
Plant in mid-October to early November in Zone 7b — about 4 to 6 weeks before our average first frost of November 15th. This gives cloves time to root well before the ground gets really cold, without sending up green shoots that can be frost-damaged.
Harvest in late June or July in our area. After pulling, hang garlic in loose bunches in a shady spot with good air movement for 3 to 4 weeks. This curing step is what allows garlic to store for months. Do not skip it.
Problems I ran into.
White rot is a soil fungus that causes garlic plants to suddenly collapse in spring — the base rots and develops white fuzzy growth. There is no treatment once it appears. Pull affected plants immediately and do not grow any alliums (garlic, onions, leeks) in that same spot for at least four years.
Rust shows up as orange powdery spots on leaves in wet springs. It slows growth but rarely kills the plant. I remove heavily affected leaves and ensure good spacing between plants for air circulation. A dry spring means almost no rust.
What I make with it.
Homegrown garlic has stronger, more complex flavor than store-bought — especially hardneck varieties. I use it in almost everything. Garlic scapes from spring make incredible pesto — I wrote up the full backyard pesto recipe using scapes and garden herbs.
I also roast whole heads: cut the top off, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, roast 45 minutes at 400 degrees. The cloves come out sweet, soft, and spreadable on bread. Browse the recipes page for more.