Your garlic is pulled from the ground, and its now time to let it dry for winter. But what do you do with your empty garden bed?

Here I go into 4 great options to fill that empty space, that can give you a second harvest come fall (that still adheres to a polyculture garden style)

Easy vegetables with big results.

Let’s Dive in…

1. What to Plant after the Garlic Harvest
2. Tips for Harvesting Garlic
3. Video of what I did in my garden
4. That’s It!

What to Plant after the Garlic Harvest

Try planting these after you pull your garlic:

1. Beans, Squash, Corn (3 sisters; can sub corn for sunflowers)
2. Greens (lettuce, kales, etc), Beets, Carrots
3. Cabbages & Herbs
4. Cover crops: grains, bulk peas, animal feed

Beans, Squash, Corn: A productive and easy to start from seed trio. Pick bean and corn varieties that say “Early” in the names. These are bred to germinate and grow faster than typical varieties of beans/corn. This will give you a good chance to have an extended harvest come late summer and fall. Summer squashes are also the better choice since they grow much faster than winter squashes. This also gives you an opportunity to recover a squash harvest, if you were plagued by squash vine borers.

Greens, Beets, Carrots: The best thing about greens (especially kales and collards), beets, and carrots is that they can withstand the first few frosts of the autumn season. In fact, much of their flavor improves after a light frost touches them and the nights have cooled. Getting them started after garlic has aerated the soil will give them ideal conditions to grow in, and with the heat of midsummer the seeds should sprout easier.

Cabbages & Herbs: You will need a net to cover cabbages, to avoid the dreaded cabbage moth, however, Early cabbages (fast growing cabbages) are well suited to be planted after garlic. There are both red and green early varieties available. You can also pair this with annual herbs or if you can snag an end of the season sale, some perennial herbs will help keep pests at bay and give you more to eat.

Cover Crops: IF you don’t want to be bothered with growing more food, don’t let that bed sit still. Through some cover crops like bulk peas, grains, or even squeeze in a crop for animal feed. Cover crops are extremely low maintenance and keeps the weeds from taking over. Plus, they will break down over winter and bring nutrients back to the top of the soil.

Tips for Harvesting Garlic

Always DIG, never pull garlic. These are not onions who rest on the top of the soil.

Garlic digs deep to create their head of cloves, and a pitchfork is needed to careful reach down under and lift the garlic heads up.

After harvesting, clean the heads of garlic off of all dirt. Let air dry for a couple of weeks before braiding or storing away (this is called curing).

Please check out What to Plant in July for an Autumn Garden, and Growing Garlic: Flavors and Types to Grow for more Information.

Video of what I did in my garden

That’s It!

Garlic should be a staple to your garden every year. They are so easy to grow, and they are a powerhouse when it comes to flavoring food and homemade medicines.

And you also have a second chance to redeem yourself if the spring was brutal to some of your crops when replanting the bed.

Enjoy!