Growing garlic for spring/summer harvest

[pepper4]

First time for growing garlic. I planted the cloves 2 weeks ago and noticed today they have green stems growing. They are around 3 to 5 inches tall. Do I just let the stems go or do I cut them back? Any advice would be helpful.

[hendi_alex]

There are a couple of garlic threads already posted that should answer most of your questions.

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19391&highlight=

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16904&highlight=garlic

https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19274&highlight=garlic

[hendi_alex]

"You are in for a real treat when you taste home-grown garlic! Next year you'll want to plant twice as much."

You surely got that right. Last year we planted about 130 cloves and harvested approximately 110 bulbs, most of very good size. This year we will plant at least 200 cloves and will share with our friends and family.

[applestar]

It's probably mentioned somewhere in one of the links Alex got for you, but mulch them deep -- I used 6~8" straw, pulling them up over the little greens before hard freeze came (20's). In spring, after the ground thawed for first spring planting (mid-March in my area) I started pulling the straw away from the greens and removed them from the bed until by mid-April, I had reduced it to about 4".

Caveat - 1st time growing garlic last~this year for me, but this did work and I had a good harvest. I'll be planting mine soon (mid-Oct~early Nov is the recommended timing for my area).

[TFA303]

Hendi - (or anyone else who knows)

How much space do you need to grow that much garlic?

[hendi_alex]

I put about 36 plants in a 3 foot by 4 foot raised bed. Those are planted in closely spaced double rows along the sides and in the middle of the bed. That leaves space for greens to be planted on either side of the middle row. I think that I could easily put another 12 garlic plants in that space, though don't intend to do so. But that would we around 48 plants in approximately 12 square feel.

The instructions at thegarlicstore.com say to leave 4 to 6 inches of space for each plant to form a large bulb. I would think that 4 bulbs per square foot would easily satisfy that requirement. But for me, I plant double rows with the cloves spaces about six inches apart in both directions, but then leave about eight inches between those and the next row in my planting block. Some planting blocks just have a double row of garlic planted along each side, with the middle left open for companion planting.

[TFA303]

Thanks!

[garden5]

I'm sure this was mentioned in some of the previous threads, but in case someone wants to refer to this thread in the future, I will add this.

Make sure you plant your cloves with the pointed side up, also, they prefer well drained, loamy soil.

Enjoy your harvest next spring.