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:
- Plant garlic in the late fall (mid-September to November).
- 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!
- Look for well-developed heads of garlic and plant individual bulbs after they have dried and formed a papery sheath.
- Save the best bulbs for planting in the garden the next growing season.
- Avoid planting severely desiccated garlic bulbs or those with evidence of disease.
- 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?
- Plant bulbs 1 to 3 inches deep with pointed end up and space 3 – 4 inches apart in rows separated 6 – 10 inches.
- Sidedress garlic with nitrogen in May for good growth and high yields.
- 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)!
- Braids can also be linked and formed into a necklace for stylish and practical vampire repellent.
- Check out the USU Extension factsheet and video on Growing and Planting Garlic.
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