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How to Grow Garlic in Zone 3 (and other cold climates)

September 25, 2020

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Garlic is an easy to plant vegetable that’s perfect for beginners. The catch? If you want to eat garlic this July, you need to plant it this October. Unlike most vegetables, garlic should be planted in the fall instead of spring. But don’t worry, the process is really simple! I’ll show you what you need to know to decide each year when the best time to plant garlic is, where to get garlic, and how to plant it in a zone 3 garden (or other cold climates) so it grows in the Spring.

The garlic growing advice I’m giving is best suited to zone 3b in Saskatchewan, but should be relevant for most other zones as well.

If you like to watch videos instead or see it done, here’s how I plant and harvest my garlic in raised garden beds:

When is the right time to Plant Garlic?

Garlic can be planted anytime after the first fall frost. Where I live in Saskatchewan, that tends to be around September 15th. Check your area’s first fall frost date and adjust accordingly.

However, just because the first frost happens, doesn’t mean that the weather is going to stay cold! A week or two of unusually high temperatures can signal garlic that its time to start growing–which you definitely don’t want. It can be a bit tricky to find that magic window of cold weather-but-the-ground-isn’t-frozen.

I’ve heard of gardeners having success planting garlic anywhere from early September to late October. Most gardeners in my area seem to favour planting anytime from October 1st-15th. If you’re from another area, try to plant your garlic 2-4 weeks after the first frost date.

What is the best Spacing for Garlic?

Garlic should be planted 3-4 inches deep, 5-6 inches apart. Even though the garlic bulb is small, the stalk and leaves get quite large.

How to Prepare the Soil for Garlic

Before you plant your garlic bulbs, remove any plant matter that was there, add some compost, and lightly mix the soil (if you’re planting in a small area) or rototill if you’re gardening in a large garden. Those of you who use no-till methods can plant directly into the ground.

In zone 3 and other cold climates, cover the area with a 2 or 3 inch thick layer of leaves. If you’re worried about keeping the leaves in place before the snow flies, put a net over the leaves (like the kind you’d use to keep birds out of your berries) and stake it down or weigh it down with rocks or bricks at the edges.

Related: 6 Ways to Store Carrots all Winter Long

Where do I buy Garlic bulbs?

In Canada, you can order garlic online from larger seed companies like Veseys and T&T Seeds. There are a couple of niche growers around the country, such as

  • Sask Garlic in Saskatchewan
  • Le Petit Mas in Quebec
  • Boundary Garlic Farm, Salt Spring Seeds & Norwegian Creek Farm in British Columbia
  • John Boy Farm in Manitoba
  • Twin Brothers Garlic & Frugal Bush Bunny in Alberta

Local garden centres that are open year round usually also stock garlic, and sometimes you can also purchase bulbs at your local farmer’s market.

Garlic goes on sale at the beginning of September and often sells out quickly–especially if you are purchasing from niche growers who specialize in unique varieties. If you are reading this in October, most varieties will be sold out by now, but the larger seed companies and possibly your local garden centre will still have some.

After you buy garlic cloves once, you can easily set aside the largest bulbs in your harvest for your own seed.

Plant garlic with the pointy end up and the other end down.

How to Plant Garlic

  • Once you have your garlic bulbs, separate them into individual cloves.
  • Plant the cloves with the pointed side up in a hole that’s approximately 3-4 inches deep, and spaced 6 inches away from another garlic clove
  • Cover the garlic with soil and cover that soil with 2-3 inches of dried leaves or grass clippings for insulation. This step is probably not necessary in warmer areas, but it’s a good idea in zone 3.
  • Secure the leaves by layering a sheet of landscape fabric or bird netting overtop. This step is not necessary, and the fabric should be removed in spring. The fabric or netting keeps the leaves from blowing away before it has snowed for the year.
  • In the Spring, remove the leaves once the garlic starts poking through with green shoots.

Related: How to Harvest Onions so they’ll last until Spring

Should I Plant Hardneck or Softneck Garlic?

You can plant either kind of garlic, but there are a few things to consider. Hardneck garlic is best suited for Northern climates (such as my zone 3 garden!) and will generally do best in the Northern United States and Canada. The purple striped and rocambole varieties are especially hardy.

Softneck garlic tends to be better suited to warmer climates and generally has a longer shelf life. These rules are not hard and fast, as there have been gardeners who successfully grow soft neck varieties in a northern climate and hardneck varieties in a southern climate.

However, only hardneck garlic produces garlic scapes–a flowery growth that must be removed and can be used in cooking. I find garlic scapes have a beautiful garlic flavour and I love adding them to eggs, soups, and any recipe that calls for garlic or onions.

What is the Best Variety of Garlic to Plant?

There is no one-best-variety of garlic to plant. Read through the seed catalogues description of each variety to see if you think it would be a good fit for you and your family. Each variety will have its own benefits, such as long storage life, larger bulbs, stronger flavour, or milder flavour. Or you might be silly like me and buy the Music variety simply because its called music and that’s a big part of your life. To each their own.

If you buy locally or from a seed seller who lives in your geographic region, they will likely only offer varieties that work for your area.

Buying from a big box store is risky, as they are more likely to sell something that might not work where you live. (This is more of a concern for those of us in lesser populated areas in zone 2 and zone 3. You can probably take your chances if you live in a large metropolitan area in zone 5, 6, or 7.)

Will you plant garlic this fall?

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

17 Comments
Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged: fall garden, fall planting, garlic, zone 3

About Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

Comments

  1. Anne Marie Craine says

    August 8, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    Thank you for the tips about garlic growing. I am in Australia so a 6 months difference but l can plan ahead. Haven't had much luck with garlic before so will try your suggestions. I would like to print out the advice like one prints out a recipe, but there is no summary without all the ads etc Have you got a version that runs through your advice without all the other stuff? Thanks
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 2, 2020 at 9:12 am

      Hmm. . . I will ask my blogging friends to see if something like this exists. Thanks for the suggestion!
      Reply
  2. Christine Smith says

    August 20, 2020 at 6:45 pm

    Hi, I planted garlic for the first time this year. Since I have never grown garlic before, I didn't know you are supposed to plant it in the fall but thought I would give it a try anyways. So I started the cloves indoors in some small pots about mid April. To my surprise, some of them had shoots within the 4 days and the rest followed shortly after. A few weeks later I noticed that the roots were growing so fast they were coming out the holes in the bottom of the pot. They needed to go into the ground way before I thought it was safe to do so (mid May?) Long story short, the tops have grown big and tall. I dug up a bulb yesterday to see how they are doing and it was big (about 2 inches / 5 cm in diameter). Since this was so successful, can I continue to plant in the spring?
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 1, 2020 at 8:22 am

      My MIL planted in the spring too, and she still got garlic, although her harvest was a lot later. So long story short, I guess you can!
      Reply
  3. Carolyn Brock says

    September 4, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    Hi Kristen Very helpful article. I want to try growing garlic for my first time. How much does it spread? Is it a perennial or do you dig it up every year? I have a garden box that we just built for next year. Would you recommend putting it in there or will it take over the box? Your thoughts? Carolyn Winnipeg
    Reply
  4. Andrea Allison says

    September 9, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    Can you plant garlic from the grocery store or is that different from buying it from a seed company?
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 14, 2020 at 9:45 pm

      You can, but it's tricky because you don't know what kind of garlic you're growing, and sometimes it doesn't grow as well. You'll be happier with bulbs from a seed company!
      Reply
  5. Jamie says

    September 21, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    This will be my first year growing garlic, I'm in zone 3 as well, and I'm waiting to plant 3 bulbs of music garlic. Should I break the cloves off first and let them dry for a day or so, or should I plant them fresh off the root? Thank you!
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 22, 2020 at 9:04 pm

      I don't think you need to let them dry if you bought them from someplace, as they should take care of that part for you. just separate the cloves and plant! I'll be doing a video about this soon.
      Reply
    • Andrew Benke says

      September 27, 2020 at 9:02 am

      Hey Kristen. I just planted my garlic this weekend in my zone 3 outdoor garden. It is very dry out here where I live right now. The ground is completely dry and it doesn't show any rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Should I water the garlic to get it going before winter? Thanks
      Reply
  6. Nathalie says

    September 25, 2020 at 11:02 am

    Should we plant garlic in full sun? I’m a new gardener ! Thanks for your help
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 30, 2020 at 5:25 am

      Yes, you'll get the best results that way.
      Reply
  7. Alix says

    September 26, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    Hi Thanks for the article! I live in Vancouver (zone 7) and this is my first year growing garlic. I bought the garlic last weekend and planted right away thinking it was about time. Now I’m thinking it may be too early :( we have had all week of rain (about 15 degrees) but starting tomorrow it will be a full week of sun at about 20-25 degrees Celsius 🤦🏻‍♀️ I planted in container and wonder if I should water the garlic all through winter? Should I protect them from the west coast rainy winter? Will that be too much rain? If I place the container in a shade area.. then I need to water right? Thanks
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 29, 2020 at 6:37 pm

      Hmm, I'm thinking you'll need to plant even later, like in November. don't water the garlic yourself, but I think leaving it out in the rain should be okay. Take this with a grain of salt because I'm in a much colder place than you!!
      Reply
      • Alix says

        October 4, 2020 at 11:38 am

        Thank you so much for your response! Hopefully we’re heading to colder days now and I’ll leave the garlic in the rain. I think you’re right, it may be just what it needs in winter.
        Reply
  8. Andrew Benke says

    September 28, 2020 at 4:26 pm

    Hey Kristen. I just planted my garlic this weekend in my zone 3 outdoor garden. It is very dry out here where I live right now. The ground is completely dry and it doesn't show any rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. Should I water the garlic to get it going before winter? Thanks
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      September 29, 2020 at 6:35 pm

      You can water it once if you're worried, but don't water it a lot. You don't want the garlic to start growing now, it just needs to get cold and be protected over the winter.
      Reply

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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