Plant garlic this fall

Nothing smells as inviting as fresh garlic sautéing in a pan. These tasty bulbs can be added to nearly any style of cuisine, or even roasted and eaten by themselves.

Fall is the time to plant garlic for next year’s harvest! This over-wintering bulb needs at least four to six weeks to establish itself. Plant garlic cloves about 12 inches apart in loose, amended soil with plenty of organic matter. Garlic will do best if planted when soil temperatures are 40°F, but before the ground freezes.

Each garlic clove will produce a bulb in the summer. After the leaves have turned brown, garlic is ready to be harvested. Harvest is easiest with a digging fork to loosen the soil without disturbing or damaging bulbs. Drying garlic, or curing, can help your harvest last for up to a year. The biggest and healthiest cloves can be replanted again in the fall.

Keep soil moist but not too wet, which will rot garlic bulbs. Make sure to keep the beds free of weeds, which competes too much with the bulbs.

Fort Collins Nursery has garlic varieties arriving in September, but they don’t last long! Stop in and get planting!

Originally published on August 2nd, 2014. Updated on April 30th, 2019.