Planting your Garlic

Once you have prepared your soil, then it’s time to plant. Different varieties of garlic will come with different planting instructions, but there are a few basics.
Get the head of garlic and separate into individual cloves. Bear in mind that a smaller clove will produce a smaller plant.

Smaller varieties of garlic should be planted about 2 inches below the surface of the soil, and larger ones 3 to 4 inches deep.

Although garlic will grow dropped any way in a hole, you will get nice straight plants if the tip of the garlic faces up and the basal plate or root plate is on the bottom.

Dry soil should be worked to a fine tilth before planting, and the garlic just placed in the soil, while for wetter soil a broom handle can be used to poke a hole in the ground and then the garlic can just be dropped in.

Garlic can be planted fairly close together, especially if your soil preparation was good and there is enough nutrient in the soil.

Enough room should be left for the head of garlic to develop fully, somewhere between four to eight inches depending upon the size and variety of the plant.

If plants are put closer together then they compete more effectively with the weeds, taking all the nutrients themselves.

If lots of rows of garlic are planted then it is important to leave enough room to get in between the rows and weed, so walk paths will need to be left.

Once planted garlic appreciates fertiliser, especially after it has sprouted, but then ease off towards the end of the crop or hight levels of garlic may decrease the size of the bulb.

And after you plant it is a good idea to mulch. Especially in cold climates it can protect your garlic. Garlic will shoot up fine through the mulch and mulch prevents competition from weeds, which garlic hates.