Halloween can be a pretty spooky time of the year, but one sure way of keeping the vampires at bay is to plant garlic.  Seriously, garlic has a place in every garden and should be planted in the garden, well, around Halloween!  Here are a few tips for planting garlic in the garden:

  1. Plant garlic in the late fall (mid-September to November).
  2. ALWAYS plant more garlic than you plan to consume. Plan to pull some garlic heads in the spring and enjoy eating slightly milder ‘green garlic’ in your favorite dishes – Boo Appetite!
  3. Look for well-developed heads of garlic and plant individual bulbs after they have dried and formed a papery sheath.Garlic cloves dried
  4. Save the best bulbs for planting in the garden the next growing season.
  5. Avoid planting severely desiccated garlic bulbs or those with evidence of disease.
  6. Have fun selecting between hard-necked (produce garlic scapes which you can eat) and soft-neck garlic varieties. Personally, I prefer to plant a mixture – why not?
  7. Plant bulbs 1 to 3 inches deep with pointed end up and space 3 – 4 inches apart in rows separated 6 – 10 inches.
  8. Sidedress garlic with nitrogen in May for good growth and high yields.
  9. Braid dried garlic plants for long-term storage (garlic braids are an aesthetically pleasing kitchen décor item – think practical holiday gift idea for the neighbors)!halloween decoration
  10. Braids can also be linked and formed into a necklace for stylish and practical vampire repellent.
  11. Check out the USU Extension factsheet and video on Growing and Planting Garlic.