How to Plant Garlic: When, How Deep and Which Type by Zone

How to plant garlic comes down to timing and depth: big cloves, pointed end up, about 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart, in fall.

Originally published: October 22, 2026

Garlic is the last crop most gardens plant in fall and the first one up in spring, and that one fact explains how to plant garlic. You set single cloves in the ground in fall, they grow roots before the soil freezes, they sit out the winter, and they swell into full bulbs the next summer. One rule stated flat: any weed killer used on that bed has to carry garlic on its label.

The hard part is the date. Plant too early and the tops grow fast enough for winter to damage them; plant too late and the roots never develop before winter (University of Minnesota Extension warns about both). So what is the right day? Your zone narrows it to a few weeks, and the table below gives that window for zones 3 through 10, built from 19 university extension services. (Bad news for Count Dracula: garlic has a window in all eight.)

When to Plant Garlic by Zone

Find your zone by ZIP code on the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, then read across your row. Already planted? Your next job is the mulch column.

How this table was built: each guide’s area was matched to its zone with USDA’s 2023 ZIP-code lookup (St. Paul and Madison are 5a, State College 6b, College Park 7b, Raleigh 8a, Austin 9a, Orlando 10a). Where a row gives a rule, look up your average first fall frost on our frost dates by ZIP code tool and count from it. Penn State and UConn both sit in zone 6b, and their windows do not overlap.

Remember what the zone number measures: the average coldest night of winter, not your frost dates. USDA says its zone maps “should serve as general guides for growing perennial plants,” and our how to start a garden guide explains why that matters for vegetables. Zone 10 is the warm edge. Garlic needs one to two months at 32°F to 50°F to start forming bulbs, and plants never exposed to temperatures below 65°F may fail to form bulbs, according to Texas A&M AgriLife. That is why UF/IFAS steers Florida gardeners to softneck types such as Artichoke, which Wisconsin Extension says do not seem to need winter cold as much.

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How to Plant Garlic, Step by Step

Here is how to plant garlic once your window opens.

1. Pick the bed. Full sun (Maryland Extension asks for at least 6 hours a day), well-drained soil, and no onions or garlic there lately. On heavy soil, Oregon State suggests raised beds at least 10 to 12 inches tall.
2. Feed the soil. Work in compost and follow a soil test. Without one, UNH Extension suggests 2 pounds of 10-10-10 per 100 square feet before planting.
3. Split the bulbs a day or two ahead. That is Minnesota Extension’s timing. Leave the papery skin on each clove.
4. Keep the biggest cloves. Bigger cloves grow bigger bulbs. Eat the little ones.
5. Plant pointed end up. Set each clove flat end down at your zone’s depth, about 6 inches apart, in rows about 12 inches apart.
6. Water, then mulch. Water if the fall turns dry (Cornell Cooperative Extension says to watch fall moisture), then mulch on your row’s schedule.

Soak the cloves first? The Minnesota, Wisconsin, Cornell, Maine and Ohio State guides have no soaking step, so neither does this one.

Hardneck vs Softneck Garlic

Hardneck garlic sends up a stiff flower stalk called a scape and grows fewer, bigger cloves. Softneck skips the stalk, packs in more cloves, braids, and keeps longer: Wisconsin gives hardneck 3 to 4 months at room temperature and softneck 6 to 8.

The regional split is clean. Penn State, Cornell, UNH, Oklahoma State and Tennessee all call hardneck the hardier type, and Maine says softneck is not reliably hardy throughout that state. In the South it flips. UGA’s Fannin-Gilmer office says softnecks are generally more adapted to the warmer climate, and Clemson says Rocambole garlic, a hardneck group, should not be grown in South Carolina.

My pick follows the table: hardneck in zones 3 through 6, either in zone 7, softneck from zone 8 south, where UF/IFAS names Artichoke and Creole types. (Want braids? UNH says braiding takes softneck.)

Can You Plant Grocery Store Garlic?

You can try, but extension services give three reasons not to. Ohio State says store garlic may have been treated to prevent sprouting, “good for shelf life, but bad for planting.” Maryland says it “may be a symptomless disease carrier.” And Wisconsin says California types such as California Early “do not adapt well to our colder climate.” I would not bet a whole bed on a grocery bulb.

Buy from a garlic grower, a farmers market or a seed catalog instead, as Minnesota, Penn State and Maine advise. Wisconsin and UMass both count about 50 cloves per pound, and UMass says a pound of seed bulbs usually yields 4 to 8 pounds. Plant the BIG cloves. Maine puts it plainly: “If you want to produce large bulbs, plant large cloves.”

How Deep to Plant Garlic

How deep to plant garlic changes with your winter. In cold zones, dig 2 to 3 inches and set the clove’s flat base on the bottom (Wisconsin, UNH and Cornell; Ohio State uses 2 inches). Wisconsin’s reason: “Cloves planted too shallow are prone to injury during the winter and early spring.” Cornell adds that freezing and thawing can push garlic up to the surface.

Southern guides go shallower. Clemson covers cloves with about 1 inch of soil, and UGA’s Circular 852 keeps the base 1 to 2 inches down. Spacing barely changes: about 6 inches apart is the common number (Wisconsin, Penn State, UNH), and closer spacing means smaller garlic (Cornell, Maine).

Soil and Fertilizer

Garlic wants loose, well-drained soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 (Minnesota, Ohio State, UNH). Cornell says it likes lots of organic matter and “does not like wet feet,” so raised beds help on heavy ground. Our page on how much compost is too much in a raised bed has the extension limits.

Feed in stages. Ohio State puts half the fertilizer down at planting and the next dose when spring growth reaches 4 to 6 inches. Minnesota stops nitrogen after the first week of May, since later feeding may delay bulbing.

Mulch and Winter Care

In cold zones, mulch earns its keep. It evens out soil temperature swings (Minnesota, Wisconsin) and keeps freezing and thawing from heaving cloves out of the ground (UNH, Maine). Minnesota and Wisconsin use 3 to 4 inches right after planting, Iowa State uses 4 to 6 inches of weed-free straw, and UNH waits until the ground freezes, then adds 4 inches.

Use straw, not hay, which carries weed seed (Ohio State, Maine). (Our guide to vegetable garden mulch compares the common choices.) Farther south, Clemson mulches with 4 to 6 inches of weed-free straw in late fall.

What If Garlic Sprouts in Fall?

Green shoots in November make people nervous, and they do not need to. Northern guides time planting so the shoots stay underground until spring (UMass, UConn, Maine). But Cornell says that if your garlic emerges in fall, “it will be just fine.” Farther south, a few leaves before cold weather is the plan (Maryland), and UGA says October plantings may show tops by November. So leave the shoots alone and save your worry for weeds.

Spring Care and Scapes

Once the hard freezes are over, rake the mulch off the rows and leave it between them for weeds (Ohio State, Minnesota). Feed again when shoots reach 4 to 6 inches, water about an inch a week, and weed early, since garlic competes poorly (Ohio State).

Scapes, the curling flower stalks on hardneck garlic, show up in June across the North (Penn State, UConn, Maine). Cut them. Maine found that leaving them on can cut bulb size by as much as 48%. Wisconsin’s numbers are gentler: up to 30% in poorly fertilized soil, under 5% in well-fertilized soil. (Penn State turns scapes into pesto.) Taper the water as harvest nears; Minnesota stops 2 weeks before harvest to avoid stained wrappers and disease.

When to Harvest Garlic

Dig when the lower leaves have browned but about half are still green (Minnesota, Wisconsin). Maine and UConn add a deadline: once the bottom three leaves are brown, you have about two weeks before the bulb wrappers break down. Not sure? Dig one, cut it in half, and see if the cloves fill their skins (Minnesota).

In the North that means summer: late June to late July in Minnesota, early to mid-July in Pennsylvania. Farther south it comes earlier, no later than June in Central Texas and as early as May for early varieties in north Georgia. Lift bulbs with a spade instead of pulling the stems (Penn State, Ohio State), skip washing, and cure them somewhere warm, dry and airy for 3 to 4 weeks (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine). Save the biggest, healthiest bulbs to plant in fall.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the latest you can plant garlic?

As late as early spring, if you accept smaller garlic. Iowa State allows spring planting from late March to mid-April, but Maryland and Ohio State both say spring plantings make smaller bulbs. In Georgia, the UGA Field Report calls February or early March the latest planting that still allows full development.

Do you plant garlic pointy side up?

Yes. The pointed tip is where the shoot emerges, and the flat base, the basal plate, is where the roots grow (Wisconsin). Ohio State says a clove planted upside down or sideways gives small or misshapen cloves, and Maryland says that matters most for hardneck types.

How long does garlic take to grow?

Roughly six to nine months from a fall planting. Maryland puts fall-planted garlic at 250 to 270 days and Rutgers says nine months, while NC State’s planting calendar lists 180 to 210 days for central North Carolina.

Does garlic come back every year?

It can. The UGA Field Report says garlic persists in the garden for years, and Wisconsin says cloves left in the ground start new roots in late summer. Still, Minnesota’s advice is to replant the biggest cloves from each crop the following year.

Where should you not plant garlic?

Anywhere onions or garlic grew recently. Cornell wants at least 3 years without garlic or onions in the bed, and Ohio State says to avoid any spot where the onion family grew in the previous year or two. For good neighbors, see our companion planting chart.

So find your row, plant the fat cloves pointed end up on your zone’s schedule, mulch, and walk away. That is how to plant garlic. Oregon State says garlic roots develop through fall and winter, which makes garlic the one crop that does its best work while you sit by the woodstove.

Sources: USDA ARS, “2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map”; USDA ARS, “How to Use the Maps”; Minnesota Extension, “Growing garlic in home gardens”; Minnesota Extension, “Last chance to plant garlic”; Wisconsin Extension, “Garlic, Allium sativum”; Iowa State Extension, “When should I plant garlic?”; Cornell CALS, “Plan on Garlic This Fall”; Cornell Cooperative Extension, “Growing Garlic”; Penn State Extension, “Growing and Using Garlic”; Maryland Extension, “Growing Garlic in a Home Garden”; Rutgers NJAES, “Growing Garlic in the Home Garden”; UConn Extension, “Garlic Cultivation in Connecticut”; UMass Extension, “Garlic”; Maine Extension, “Growing Garlic in Maine”; UNH Extension, “Growing Garlic in New Hampshire”; Ohio State Extension, “Growing Garlic in the Garden”; Oregon State Extension, “Fall is the best time to plant garlic in Oregon”; Colorado State Extension, “Fall Planting: Garlic in Western Colorado”; Oklahoma State Extension, “Planting Garlic in the Home Garden”; Tennessee Extension, “Garlic”; NC State Extension, “Central North Carolina Planting Calendar”; Clemson Extension, “Onion, Leek, Shallot & Garlic”; UGA Extension, “Production and Management of Garlic, Elephant Garlic, and Leek”; UGA Extension, Fannin-Gilmer, “Growing Garlic”; UGA Field Report, “Grow Garlic in Georgia Gardens”; UF/IFAS, “Garlic”; Texas A&M AgriLife, Travis County, “In Austin’s October Vegetable Garden”; Texas A&M AgriLife, Bexar County, “Onions, Garlic and Crawford Lettuce”; UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County, “Garlic”.

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James Nicholas

NFA Firearms Manufacturer & Professional Gunsmith The XDMAN has a talent for taking complex firearms subject matter and breaking it down into an easy-to-understand format that all experience levels can relate to. James is an 07/02 NFA Firearms Manufacturer, a Professional Gunsmith with over 20 years of experience, and a Firearms Writer, Photographer and Firearms Expert. Connect with him on Instagram, X, and Facebook as @therealxdman.

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