What to do when the easiest crop—garlic—fizzles

by Connie Oswald Stofko

I had a poor garlic crop this year. Instead of large bulbs with separate cloves, I got small bulbs without any separate cloves. I don’t know what I did wrong.

For years I have planted garlic with no problems. I think it’s the easiest food plant you can grow.

John Farfaglia, extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension in Niagara County, concurred.

“It’s hard to go wrong with garlic,” he said.

Though garlic is usually easy to grow, there are some things that can impair your garlic crop. The good news is that there are ways to prevent problems.

Move garlic to a different area

“If you have your garlic in the same area for a number of years, the pest issue is higher,” Farfaglia said. “Diseases and insect pests can be a problem over time. It’s a really good idea to rotate planting.”

After two years in a row, plant your garlic in a different area, he said.

For better results, choose an area with soil that contains organic matter, like compost.

Mulch the garden now

October is a good time to plant garlic, but with the warm air and warm soil we’ve been having, my garlic is sprouting. Is that a problem?

It’s not unusual, with our warmer climate and weather, to see some garlic sprouting in fall, Farfaglia said. However, you do need to protect your garlic from sudden swings in temperature. He suggests mulching your sprouts with straw, chopped leaves or branches from evergreens.

“That way the sprouts will be protected in case the weather suddenly turns cold,” he said. See more on mulching in this previous article.

Tip: It’s better to plant garlic in October, but Farfaglia said you can still plant garlic now in November. (Of course, in other years, you may not be able to plant in November if the ground is frozen or if another Snowvember Storm hits your area.)

Tip regarding rabbits: This is more of an idea than a tip. I wonder if the evergreen branches will protect the sprouts from rabbits. My idea for placing forks and sticks throughout the garlic bed didn’t work; the rabbits just knocked the sticks over to make a nest. See more tips on rabbits here. If you have any tips, please share your ideas in the comments below.

Buy garlic from local growers

“I recommend locally grown garlic,” Farfaglia said. “The growers have great quality. There’s nothing better than local.”

If you get garlic from elsewhere, he said, the garlic may come from an area that doesn’t have the oversight and restrictions regarding chemicals we have here.

Fertilize in spring

Garlic requires a little more nitrogen, Farfaglia said.

In spring, when the plant is about four inches tall, add fertilizer along the rows. A 10-10-10 fertilizer is fine; the nitrogen is what the garlic needs. (Find out what those numbers mean here.)

Spread the fertilizer again when the plant is six to eight inches tall.

Keep weeds down

You don’t want other plants vying with your garlic for water and nutrients.

When to water

If you don’t get rain, keep watering your garlic in May and June. That’s when the bulb size is developing, Farfaglia said.

When the garlic is getting ready to be harvested, it will show signs. The older leaves will start to turn yellow, then brown. You don’t have to worry about watering during that period.

Your harvest may come at a different time, but in Niagara County, Farfaglia harvests in the third week of July or later.

Final tip: When you have questions about your plants, contact the Master Gardeners in your county.