Planting:
You should plant garlic cloves in the fall roughly 4 to 6 weeks before your ground freezes, choosing a sunny spot with rich, loose, well-draining soil. For Chatham-Kent, it’s the right time of year right now! [This was published October 4th]
October 15th to December 1st are good planting targets for our region. I plant around Halloween here in zone 6b. You can often get away with very late plantings, as long as the ground isn’t icy yet. Once the ground is hard, you won’t have too much fun!
Separate the bulbs into cloves just before planting, keeping the papery skins intact. Set each clove upright with the pointed tip facing up and the flat root plate down, buried 2 inches (5 cm) deep and spaced 6 inches (15 cm) apart. I add 4-4-4 mixed into the soil surrounding the bulb at around 3/4 to 1 tbsp per clove.
Water the bed thoroughly after planting, then top it with 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) of clean straw or shredded leaves to insulate the cloves through the winter. (Technically it is optional to mulch/insulate, I’ve never lost a single clove to the freezing around here).
Growing On
Once spring is here, you MUST broadcast a high-nitrogen fertilizer. An easily available option is the miracle gro “all purpose” slow release formula. Broadcast it to its full strength directions for garlic. Garlic is essentially extremely hungry grass!
Incorporate extra liquid fertilizer feedings when weather is hot, making sure to maintain good moisture levels consistently. The seed garlic you received was grown on irrigation. If you need help installing a simple irrigation system, Tee’s Plants can help with additional gardening services in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton, and Windsor-Essex.
You must ensure your garlic remains perfectly weeded. Garlic is extremely uncompetitive, and will get choked out very quickly by common weeds. I use a sharpened hoe which makes it very easy to chop them out, sparing the garlic carefully.
Don’t forget to harvest your garlic scapes, the silly looking flowers that appear in the summer. People love to eat them in soups, but you don’t want your garlic investing energy into them for very long. Remove them before they get large.
Need garlic next year? Contact order@teesplants.com by August 15th 2027 to secure the most fancy garlic available here in Southwestern Ontario.