Fall-planted garlic is one of the most rewarding crops you can grow in Canada. You plant it now, let it sit under the snow all winter, and pull big, flavourful bulbs next summer while the rest of the garden is barely getting going. It asks for almost nothing in return. Here is how to get it right, wherever in the country you garden.
When to plant garlic in fall
The goal is the same everywhere: get the cloves in early enough to grow roots before the ground freezes, but not so early that they push up a lot of green top growth. Timing shifts with your climate:
- Prairies and colder zones (Zone 2-4): mid-to-late October, a few weeks before the ground freezes hard.
- Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes (Zone 4-6): late October into early November.
- Mild coastal BC (Zone 7-8): as late as November, since the ground barely freezes.
A good rule anywhere: plant about two to four weeks before your ground normally freezes. Not sure when your season turns? Check your local first-frost date as a starting point.
Use seed garlic, not grocery bulbs
This is the mistake that trips up most first-timers. Grocery garlic is often treated to stop it sprouting, and it is frequently a variety bred for a mild climate. Buy seed garlic from a local grower, seed company, or garden centre instead.
Hardneck vs softneck: for most of Canada, plant hardneck garlic. It is built for freezing winters and gives you an edible flower stalk (a scape) in early summer as a bonus. Dependable hardneck varieties include Music, Russian Red, and the Purple Stripe types. In the mildest parts of coastal BC you can also grow softneck garlic, which stores longer and can be braided, but it is less reliable through a hard winter.
How to plant it, step by step
- Break the bulb into cloves the day you plant, and leave the papery skin on each clove.
- Plant pointy-end up, flat root-end down.
- Depth: 2 to 3 inches. Go to the deeper end in colder zones for more insulation.
- Spacing: about 6 inches apart. A hand-span is close enough.
- Plant the biggest cloves. Bigger cloves make bigger bulbs. Cook with the small inner ones.
Mulch after planting
Cover the bed with 4 to 6 inches of straw or shredded leaves. In cold zones this is essential: freeze-thaw cycles heave unmulched cloves out of the ground, and exposed cloves die. Mulch keeps the soil temperature steady and holds them in place. In mild coastal areas a lighter mulch is fine, more to suppress weeds and hold moisture than to insulate. You do not need to remove it in spring; the shoots grow right through it.
What happens next
Green shoots come up in spring as the snow goes. Hardneck garlic sends up a curling scape in early summer, snap it off so the plant puts its energy into the bulb (and stir-fry the scapes, they are excellent). Harvest is usually mid-to-late summer, when the lower few leaves have browned but several green ones remain. Lift the bulbs, brush off the soil, and cure them somewhere dry and airy for a few weeks before storing.
Quick troubleshooting
- Cloves heaved out over winter? Not enough mulch. Add more next fall.
- Small bulbs? Planted too close, cloves too small to start, or scapes left on too long.
- Rot? Usually soggy ground. Garlic wants well-drained soil; a raised bed helps a lot on heavy clay.
Plant it now, mulch it well, and forget about it until spring. Few crops give back this much for this little effort.