The Best Time to Plant Garlic

Planting

• The best time to plant garlic is in the fall. Plant two or three weeks after the first killing frost, so that roots and shoots begin emerging from the clove -- but not above the soil -- before the first hard freeze at 28 degrees Fahrenheit. A local extension office can help you pick the best planting time for garlic in your area.

Function

• Like many hardy bulbs, garlic benefits from exposure to the cold. Garlic planted in the spring often develops weak shoots and poor bulb development.

Considerations

• Garlic does not easily produce seeds, meaning that gardeners cultivate garlic from cloves instead. When preparing a garlic bed in the fall, loosen the soil and provide an amendment, if necessary, to give garlic the well-drained, fertile soil it needs to produce large, well-shaped bulbs.