Planting Seed Garlic

We grow hardneck garlic in the Wisconsin Northwoods. If you can keep a garden, you can grow it. Plant in fall, mulch for winter, harvest the next July.

Shop hardneck seed garlic. Ready to Plant Garlic Cloves.

When to plant

In cold climates like Wisconsin, plant in October. We harvest in July and cure the bulbs on the farm. Get the cloves in the ground before the soil freezes, about 2 to 4 weeks before a hard freeze if you can.

What to plant

Two large Chesnok Red seed garlic bulbs in a farmhand's palm

Use our planting garlic: bulbs 2 inches or larger. Bigger cloves make bigger bulbs. One pound of porcelain types like Music and German White plants about 30 cloves. Metechi runs about the same. Chesnok Red and Korean Red run closer to 50. Or skip cracking bulbs and use our ready-to-plant clove bags.

Shop fall planting garlic

Ready-to-plant cloves, or named hardneck bulbs by the pound.

How to plant

Hardneck bulb broken into cloves, pointy end up

  • Break the bulb into cloves. Keep the wrappers on. Plant the largest cloves. Cook the rest.
  • Pointy end up, root end down.
  • About 3 to 4 inches deep, 6 inches apart, rows about a foot apart.
  • Cover with soil, then a thick mulch (straw or leaves). In the Northwoods that mulch is what gets them through winter.
  • Full sun. Decent drainage. They do not like sitting in a puddle.

What happens next

Garlic shoots coming through straw mulch in spring

Shoots come up in spring. Hardnecks send up a scape in early summer. Snap it off and cook it. That also helps the bulb size up. Dig in July when the bottom leaves have browned and a few green ones are still on top. Cure in a dry, airy place out of the sun, then store cool and dry.

Fresh garlic scapes held in the field, ready to snap off

Hardneck vs softneck

Hardnecks want real winters. They grow a stiff scape, bigger cloves, and the flavors we name on the farm. Softneck is what most grocery garlic is. It stores longer and braids easily, but it often struggles in cold northern gardens. We grow and sell hardneck only.

Which variety

Chesnok Red is the one people ask for most: sweet, good for roasting. Music and German White are the big storage porcelains. Metechi is one of the hottest we grow. Korean Red is fiery and an earlier harvest.

Shop fall planting garlic

Ready-to-plant cloves, or named hardneck bulbs by the pound.

Questions or a larger garden order: use the contact page.