🧄 Garlic

Vegetable Garden · growing reference

Days to maturity	230 days – 250 days, by type
Germination	14 days
Spacing	6″ in the row × 12″ between rows
Planted as	clove
Water	~0.50–1 in a week

When to plant

In USDA zone 6, for example: Plant around Mar 18 — as soon as the ground can be worked.

	Spring	Fall
Zone 3	Apr 17	Sep 6
Zone 4	Apr 9	Sep 11
Zone 5	Mar 29	Sep 24
Zone 6	Mar 18	Oct 6
Zone 7	Mar 4	Oct 27
Zone 8	Feb 15	Nov 11
Zone 9	Jan 23	Nov 26

Dates are the typical window for each zone's average frost dates — your own last frost can differ by a couple of weeks. Zone 10 and warmer is effectively frost-free: plant to the season, not the frost. Southern Hemisphere: shift six months.

Garlic Types

Softneck · 230 days · 0.1–0.2 lbs/plant — The braiding garlic (Silverskin, Artichoke) — stores nearly a year; the mild-winter choice.
Hardneck · 240 days · 0.1–0.2 lbs/plant — Scapes in June, the boldest flavor, cold-country hardy (Music, Rocambole) — stores ~6 months.
Elephant · 250 days · 0.4–1 lbs/plant — Actually the leek species grown for giant mild cloves — logs like garlic, so it lives here.

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