Garlic has got to be one of the most beloved spices in the world, and the best thing about garlic is that they are incredibly easy to grow and require very little maintenance.

There are only two things to think about when planting garlic:

When to plant the garlic
How to plant the cloves of garlic

Here I go into the best time to plant and how to plant the cloves correctly, so they don’t rot over winter.

Let’s Dive In…

How to Grow Garlic in your Garden | Planting Garlic Cloves

Garlic takes anywhere from 8 months to 1 year to fully mature and ripen for harvest.

But garlic does need a minimum of 8-12 weeks of chill hours to grow properly, during that time.

Chill hours are days (as in the full 24 hours) under 45 degrees F.

The easiest way to achieve all this is to plant the cloves in the late autumn, right before the ground freezes.

You can plant your garlic about 1 month prior to your last frost all the way until the ground freezes.

The sooner you plant the sooner you will harvest next summer.

Even though garlic is very low maintenance, there is a particular way they need to be planted to be successful:

Separate each clove being careful not to pull any papery skin off. (don’t plant any that has lost that protective papery skin; it will just rot away over winter)
Prepare your soil: weed your bed and add a fresh layer of compost or some fertilizer.
Dig a 1-2-inch-deep hole and plant your garlic pointy tip up. (old root end should be downwards)
Cover with dirt, and add a layer of mulch: leaves, straw, or cut grass does well.
Do not disturb until it’s time to harvest next summer.

You may notice that your garlic sprouts prior to winter. And that is okay.

The garlic bulb will simply pause itself once it’s freezing outside and re sprout in the springtime.