How (and When) to Plant Garlic in Massachusetts- Step by Step Guide
Garlic- if you’re like me, there’s no such thing as too much. Garlic is an easy to grow crop, incredibly nutrient dense, has a long shelf life, and is versatile in its many applications in home cooking.
That’s not even the best part! Garlic is planted in the fall (specifically the last week of October into the first couple weeks of November). This means it’s front loaded work- you don’t have to worry about getting garlic in the ground during the busy spring season. You can just “set it and forget it” until you harvest the scapes next June. How great is that?!
What you’ll need:
Seed garlic from a reputable distributor (more on that below)
A well prepared growing space
A trowel or this auger attachment for your drill that makes for quick work when planting larger areas
Measuring tape
Lots of leaf mulch or hay mulch (seed free is best)
Your preferred fertilizer (but not until the spring, more on this below)
First, you want to make sure your growing space is prepped and ready. If you haven’t already you can read about how to do this here.
Purchase seed garlic from a reputable source. We like to ask local farms- they often will sell it to home gardeners saving you on shipping from online companies. Some folks have luck planting the garlic they buy at the grocery store, but I do not recommend this. Garlic that comes from the store has a higher chance of being exposed to chemical growth inhibitors, pesticides, and isn’t screened for disease. Garlic from the store also may not be well adapted to our growing climate.
Another great thing about growing your own garlic is you only have to purchase seed ONE TIME- Garlic seed is easy to save and it’s an infinite loop. Simply save some of your best looking bulbs that you harvest in July for fall planting.
Using a trowel, or this handy drill-mounted auger, make small holes about 1 inch deep, spacing them 4-6” apart, with about 10-12” between rows. I like to lay out my tape measure along the entire length of the row as a guide while I make the holes.
Break apart your seed garlic heads into individual cloves, and place one clove per hole, pointy side up. There is no need to peel the cloves, as the skin can offer natural disease protection. Any cloves that appear moldy or sticky can be composted. If you are working from your own saved garlic from the current year, select for the traits you find the most desirable. Meaning use the largest, least blemished, healthiest looking garlic for planting, and the less desirable ones can be eaten just the same in your kitchen. By doing so, you are preserving better genetics for your next crop.
When you’re done with Step 4, it should look a little something like this
5. Cover the holes with soil and then add a generous amount (roughly 3-4”) of leaf or straw mulch over the bed. The leaves you rake up from your yard work well for this, but try to avoid pine needles as they can make your soil acidic. Mulching your garlic will help protect it from harsh winter weather and will prevent erosion.
6. In the spring, when you first start to notice the garlic coming up, add your preferred nitrogen-forward fertilizer (I like fish emulsion for this, but you could also use feather meal or blood meal).
In June you can expect to see scapes, and the beginning of July is ideal for harvesting the bulbs. Garlic is really that easy. So what’re you waiting for?!