vegetable
Garlic
The October crop. Plant cloves in fall, harvest in early summer. Grocery garlic is often treated — buy seed garlic.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Spacing
- 6 in
- Days
- 220–270
- Zones
- 3a–9a
How to sow
Cloves in October in most of the country, point up, 2 inches deep, 6 inches apart. Mulch.
Harvest
When half the leaves have browned, usually June or July. Cure in dry shade.
Mistakes that waste a packet
- Planting grocery garlic that was treated
- Spring planting and expecting large bulbs
- Harvesting too late so wrappers rot
Three packets
Music
BeginnerA hardneck that sizes up in cold winters. The one to plant in the Midwest.
California Softneck
FlavorBraids and stores. Better south of zone 7 where winters are mild.
Partner links may earn us a commission. We do not warehouse these packets. See indoor start dates for your ZIP.
Related
Tomatoes
Start indoors. Match days-to-maturity to the weeks you actually have after last frost.
Peppers
Need more heat and a longer indoor start than tomatoes. Short-season varieties matter north of zone 7.
Lettuce
The crop that makes a first garden feel like a garden. Sow in spring and again in late summer.
The sow list
A note when it is time to sow
Seasonal, not daily. We will send what to start in your zone, and skip the rest of the year.
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