I recently received a question from a reader asking if they could plant garlic in spring. As I was sending an answering email to the gardener, I thought other people might be interested in this subject, too.
Although most garlic in Mid-Missouri is planted in the fall, you can still plant garlic in the spring.
During the winter, the garlic goes through a process called vernalization, whereby the cold temperatures stress the seed and divide it into separate cloves. The increased day lengths brought by spring triggers the garlic to bulb.
The more time garlic has to grow before forming bulbs, the larger the heads will be.
You can mimic this vernalization process by putting the cloves in the refrigerator for two to three weeks for softneck garlic and four to eight weeks for hardneck garlic.
Put the cloves in a plastic baggie with some holes poked in the baggie to allow for ventilation or leave the top of the bag slightly open.
Check the garlic weekly to ensure there isn't a build up of moisture or mold forming. If you see sprouting or roots forming, plant the cloves right away.
Garlic seed (which is just bulbs or cloves intended for planting) is easy to source in the fall. In spring, it can be a bit trickier to find, especially if you're looking for specific varieties. It can be ordered online or bought at a local garden center.
Many nurseries bring in softneck garlic varieties in spring. Most need less vernalization than hardneck varieties and produce a bulb more reliably from spring planting. However you source your spring garlic, buy it as early as possible so that you have time to give the cloves a cold treatment.
Garlic found at the grocery store has usually been treated to prevent sprouting so that will not be a good source. Although I did find some organic garlic at a grocery store and it grew well.
Another option for garlic planted in the spring is to harvest it as spring garlic, otherwise known as green garlic.
Instead of waiting until the end of the summer, harvest the April-planted garlic after about eight weeks at the end of May, a few weeks before you plan to harvest garlic bulbs if you have overwintered them. The long, tender shoots and tiny white speckled bulb look almost like scallions.
Plant the cloves in your garden as soon as the ground is workable. It may seem very early to be planting a crop outdoors but remember that garlic is cold hardy.
Garlic grows best in a garden that receives at least eight hours of sun each day. Garlic prefers a soil rich in nitrogen.
Plant the cloves two to three inches deep and six inches apart. You can plant in a grid formation to maximize growing space.
Give the garlic bed a deep watering to ensure the newly planted cloves have all the moisture they need to start growing roots.
Happy gardening!
Peter Sutter is a lifelong gardening enthusiast and a participant in the MU Extension's Callaway County Master Gardener program. Gardening questions can be sent to [email protected].