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How to Plant Garlic

Summary

Purchase certified, disease-free garlic bulbs for planting from reputable seed sources. Never plant garlic from a grocery store. It may be a symptomless disease carrier. Plant individual cloves between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1 so they have time to grow roots and a few leaves before cold weather sets in. Plant 1 to 2 inches deep, similar to onion sets, in soil amended with organic matter. Large cloves produce larger bulbs than small cloves. Spring plantings produce smaller bulbs because size is related to the number of leaves initiated prior to bulbing. Space cloves 4 to 6 inches apart in the row. You can improve efficiency by planting double or triple wide rows