The Complete Guide to Growing, Curing, and Storing Garlic

Garlic is a staple in most pantries. Having a few garlic bulbs on hand means you can add flavor and oompf to most types of cuisine from Italian to Indian and everything in between.

If you have the time, space, and inclination, there is nothing quite like growing your own veggies and harvesting them yourself, and garlic is no exception.

With very little effort or know-how, you can grow a whole bounty of garlic in your backyard and keep yourself in garlic all year round.

How to Grow Garlic

Source: The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni/YouTube

First things first! You need to get some garlic seeds (really just the cloves). If you buy garlic seeds from seed companies, you will get garlic bulbs in the post that look just like the ones you find at grocery stores. And they are! Buying from a seed company just means that you can buy the exact variety that you want, and you may get a better yield.

You can, however, simply buy a bulb of garlic from the store and break it up into individual cloves on the day of planting.

Plant your garlic cloves in the autumn, as the cloves need to overwinter to develop bulbs. This just means that the planted cloves need to be exposed to freezing temperatures in the ground. Wait to as close to the first frost as possible as you don’t want the cloves shooting up greens. You want all the clove’s energy to go into growing bulbs.

Choose a place in your garden that gets full sun and has well-draining fertile soil. Plant each clove about three inches deep and about 4-6 inches apart. Make sure that the pointed end is pointed up. You should start to see green shoots the following spring.

When to Harvest Garlic

When you harvest your garlic will depend on when you planted it. If you planted a specific variety, you can check on the average days to maturity for a guide. Otherwise, you can be looking to harvest your garlic anywhere from late June through August.

One of the main tips is to look for the yellowing or dying back of the green foliage. This should indicate that the bulbs are ready for harvest. However, don’t just go and dig everything up. Dig up one bulb to see if it is well formed. If you are satisfied, carefully dig up the other bulbs with a garden fork. Leave roots, skin, and foliage on the bulbs, but shake off any loose soil.

How to Dry Garlic for Storage

Source: MIGardener/YouTube

It is worth noting that there are two different types of garlic—hardneck and softneck.

• Hardneck garlic– Hardneck garlic is great if you live in a climate with really harsh winters, as it’s quite cold and hardy. It is easy to spot when you break open a bulb as it has a hard stem through the middle.
• Softneck garlic– Softneck garlic doesn’t have the center stem inside the bulb. The cloves just grow in a complete cluster around themselves. It is this type of garlic that you can see braided. This is a better variety to grow if you live in a warmer climate.

Whichever type you have grown, once you have harvested, you need to dry or cure your bulbs. Once you have pulled your bulbs from the ground, brush off any clumps of soil. Do not wash your bulbs. Any added moisture can cause rot.

You need to spread your garlic bulbs out in a single layer in a dry, shady spot with good airflow to cure for about two weeks. You can also tie them up and hand them if you don’t have much ground space.

After these two weeks, you are looking for your garlic to have formed dry papery skin. The bulbs should crack open easily, just like the ones you buy at the store. It is at this point that you should trim off any roots that you left on the bulbs. The roots can start to harvest humidity in the air and may cause the bulb to start sprouting.

Trim the dried foliage from the bulbs, too. Cut this about 2-3 inches above the top of the cloves. This will also help to keep moisture out.

Store your garlic bulbs in a cool, dry place in a basket or even a paper bag. Your bulbs need to have good airflow and not be exposed to moisture. Your garlic can last this way for up to 9 months.

But remember! Don’t eat all of it. Save some of the cloves to plant for next year’s harvest.

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