When to Plant Garlic

Garlic is a hardy cool-season vegetable. It can take a hard frost.

Plant it in fall, from 3 weeks before the first fall frost to 2 weeks after it. The first harvest comes about 240 to 270 days after planting.

Example dates

The same rules in dates for three climates, using typical frost dates. Enter your ZIP code above for the dates where you live.

Garlic: dates by last spring and first fall frost
Task	Last frost Mar 15first Nov 15	Last frost Apr 15first Oct 25	Last frost May 15first Sep 30
Plant	Oct 25 – Nov 29	Oct 4 – Nov 8	Sep 9 – Oct 14
Harvest	Jun 21 – Jul 5	May 31 – Jun 14	May 6 – 20

Fall-planted cloves make the biggest bulbs; dig when the lower leaves have browned.

Spacing: 5 in apart, in rows 18 in apart. In a raised bed, 4 per sq ft at square-foot spacing.
Days to harvest: 240 to 270 from planting, then about 2 weeks of picking.
Rotation: garlic is in the onion family. Plant it where nothing from that family grew in the last two years. See crop rotation.
Traditional companions: beet, bell pepper, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cherry tomato, collards, dill, head lettuce, hot pepper, kale, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, potato, romaine lettuce, tomato. See companion plants for garlic.
Usually kept apart from: bush bean, pea (shelling/snap/snow), pole bean.

Draw your beds, tap squares to plant garlic and everything else, and get every crop's dates for your ZIP code in one calendar. Free, in your browser.

When do I plant garlic?

In fall, from 3 weeks before the first fall frost to 2 weeks after it. The first harvest comes about 240 to 270 days later, the next year.

How long does garlic take to grow?

About 240 to 270 days from planting to the first harvest, which then lasts about 2 weeks. Varieties differ: check the seed packet.