It’s that time of the year where my individual garden season is wrapping up. But here in zone 9a, there is another crop that I can still plant, and it’s one of my favorites! Garlic can be planted late October through November (check timing for your individual zone) and will sit in the ground all winter until it is ready to be harvested during the next growing season. Here’s how I do it in my own garden, where I have had great success.

There are two varieties of garlic, hardneck and softneck. I will not dive into the differences right now, but really the variety of garlic you grow depends on your climate and own preferences. I chose to grow a softneck variety of garlic in my garden because it has a longer shelf life and is perfect for braiding. When I first bought my bulbs, I also wanted what seemed the most common and easy for my zone 9a, so that’s what I got! Now let’s get into how to plant your own.

1. Buy bulbs. I personally bought seed garlic bulbs because I wanted to set myself up for the highest chance of success. Realistically you could buy garlic from the grocery store, but it’s not recommended in order to avoid garlic that could potentially be diseased or treated with a sprout inhibitors.
2. Separate your head of garlic into individual cloves, leaving the papery skin intact. This is what you will plant and what will grow into a new head of garlic for you next year.
3. Pick where to grow. I’ve grown garlic in both containers and the ground with success. Either way, choose a location with full sun and well draining soil.
4. Now it’s time to plant! Loosen the soil a bit, and plant each clove 2-3 inches deep with the pointy end facing up. Each clove should be planted about 4 inches apart.
5. Cover up your cloves with 1-2 inches of soil and add a thick layer of mulch, about 3-6 inches. I also covered my plants with garden mesh because the squirrels in my area are relentless.

Where I live, in the PNW, we get plenty of rain all winter and spring, so I don’t have to worry about watering the garlic until it gets closer to summer, I just let Mother Nature do her thing. But if you feel that it is especially dry, go ahead and water. Garlic needs about an inch of water each week.

Your garlic will need 8-9 months to mature, so now that you’ve got it in the ground, sit back and relax! Come June or early July, we will harvest and store the garlic, also saving bulbs to plant for the next year. I’ll write another post all about that process, but for now I just want to encourage you to get some garlic in the ground this fall because it is so easy to grow and a delicious kitchen staple.

Happy gardening!