Garlic may be a somewhat mundane vegetable, but it is, like virtually every other vegetable, completely transformed in the home garden. Homegrown garlic is full of pungency (what you might call heat); pungency is a mouthfeel rather than a true measure of spiciness and it is what gives garlic its perceived spiciness.
Garlic is also a great vegetable for the busy gardener. Planted in autumn, the same time so many spring bulbs are tucked into the earth, garlic rests for much of winter. Planted around or a few weeks after your first hard freeze, this gives the garlic cloves time to set roots — but not shoots — before winter sets in. Meanwhile, you carry on, knowing come spring those cloves will break dormancy as soon as favorable conditions ensue. In cold climates, garlic will sprout up in early spring, reaching maturity by the middle of summer.
For us, our garlic reliably sprouts by the middle of April. Lately, it seems to sprout right before a massive April blizzard. They emerge only toget blanketed with heavy, wet snow that quickly melts, drenching the thawing and warming soil with an early precipitation. At first, I fretted whether to cover them or not, but alas, my busy life and natural curiosity for cold hardy gardening inspired me to let them be. They have always victoriously emerged after late season snow events. I now confidently rejoice at their early spring pokes of green, confident of their phenological awareness that the seasons are shifting.
Hardneck vs Softneck
As the name suggests, the difference between hardneck and softneck garlic is in the main stem of the plant. Hardneck garlic produces a stiff central flower stalk while softneck grows absent a hard flower stalk, and is thus easier to braid. Softneck generally produces more reliably in warmer climates while hardneck is well-adapted to frigid winters. Softneck stores longer, but produces smaller cloves though in higher quantities per bulb; softneck can be a bit finicky here in our USDA Zone 4a. Flavors also vary quite a bit among garlic varieties.
The benefit of growing hardneck is that the stiff central stalk produces a flower, called a garlic scape. This bonus harvest must be removed to signal to the plant to fatten up those underground bulbs — otherwise the scape will flower and produce bulbils, another clone of the mother plant that can be planted though more commonly harvested before flowering. The scape can be used in the same way one would use garlic. Our favorite way to consume scapes is Garlic Scape Pesto.
While we continue to attempt to grow softneck varieties, hardneck performs more consistently in our very cold climate. While hardneck does not store as long, they produce markedly larger cloves that are easier to peel. We dehydrate aging hardneck garlic bulbs in February to use as garlic powder until fresh garlic is back in season come July or August.
Plant Spacing
As a shallow rooted plant, I prefer to give my garlic its own planting space. I don’t interplant garlic with any other crop. This eliminates potential crowding or shading from nearby plants. I always plant my garlic in a block, 6” between cloves within a row with offset rows also 6” apart. When I do this, each plant is spaced 6” on center in all directions. I would not plant any closer, even though I’ve read 4” as a potential plant spacing. I could go farther apart between rows, but experience has taught me that this spacing delivers consistent and large bulbs.
Grown as a clone, a single garlic clove is planted and produces an entirely new bulb the following summer. I plant my garlic 6” deep. This depth includes my 3” of compost mulch already on top of the bed. If you are going to add mulch after planting, the recommended depth is 2-3”.
Weed Pressure
It is important to keep the bed as weed free as possible. Weeds can dramatically reduce bulb size so this is paramount to growing the strongest possible garlic crop. Because of our no till gardening, weed pressure is practically negligent in our garden, so maintaining a weed free garlic bed is mostly effortless.
I highly recommend considering compost as your mulch. This single method of mulching has been transformative to our gardens and made weeding our most despised invasive weed, creeping charlie, a cinch because it comes right out of the fluffy compost mulch. Leaf mulch, grass clippings, and clean straw are three other excellent options for mulching your garlic (and all your beds).