How to Plant Garlic: Organic Gardening

Planting Garlic: Step 1 Break a garlic bulb apart into individual cloves, being careful to keep the papery skins covering each clove intact. Then fill a quart jar with water and mix in one tablespoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of liquid seaweed. Soak the cloves in this mixture for two hours prior to planting to prevent fungal disease and encourage vigorous growth.


Planting Garlic: Step 2 In the meantime, prepare your bed for planting. Garlic grows best in rich, well-drained soil that is free of weeds. Dig a furrow about 3 inches deep. Place the presoaked cloves into the furrow, spacing them 6 to 8 inches apart. Be sure the flat root end is down and the pointy end is up.

Planting Garlic: Step 3 Cover the cloves with 2 inches of soil and sidedress the furrow with compost or scratch in granulated organic fertilizer. Water the bed in well and cover it with 6 to 8 inches of straw mulch. You should see shoots poking through the mulch in four to six weeks. The garlic stops growing in the winter months and resumes in spring.

For more tips on planting, growing, & harvesting garlic, see our Garlic Growing Guide.