How Long Does Garlic Take To Grow?

I think with all the different crops we grow none draws more confusion over its lifecycle and timeline than garlic and rightly so outside of asparagus and fruit trees this will be the longest plant to grow to get a harvest from the rewards are worth it though as garlic stores for nearly as long as it takes to grow and is very much underappreciated in its ease to cultivate and as if that weren't enough garlic is grown from itself so once you get that first harvest quite likely you'll never have to buy a single clove ever again so today let's look at the garlic life cycle and just what are we in for timeline wise when we commit to Growing this amazing alium like we said garlic is a long crop to grow and the span of seasons is the cause of much confusion in the gardening Community for a complete tutorial on planting and growing garlic even in containers like this stuff here check out this video that I did a few years back okay let's get into it not to add to the confusion but there's actually two types of garlic available to grow I'm talking hard neck and soft neck by the time garlic makes it to the grocery store the main stem known as the neck has been completely trimmed off making the the two varieties of garlic completely indistinguishable but the Keen Eye of garlic connoisseurs around the world can still spot the differences soft neck garlics are often milder in flavor and contain more numerous but smaller cloves they also don't send up flowers and lack that main hard stem of the hard necks these are the garlics you're going to see braided in bunches hanging in the kitchens of gardeners in warmer climates hard necks the type that I grow here in zone 9 are a little bit different and that's because they're more closely related to the original wild type garlics also they seem to be more Adept at handling all of my crazy weather you'll find these types to be spicier with their larger but less numerous cloves in the end though garlic is garlic and we love it all the major difference between the two types though is in the way they grow while soft necks are grown in warmer climates hard necks are the complete opposite and they can only be grown in areas with a true winter and it's because of this that the hard neck life cycle is nearly twice as long as that of the soft necks hard necks will take temperatures well below freezing and in fact they require it to bulb up properly they require a chilling period known as vernalization to stimulate the bulbing process in the first place without it all we're going to get is a lot of greenery but with no actual bulb so if we're asking ourselves how long does it take to grow garlic it makes sense to start with the much simpler soft necks first growing in climates that are at least zone 9 preferably warmer soft neck can be planted in either the spring or even the fall provided that winter doesn't get too cold cooler weather will stall growth until it warms but without that dorcy you can expect a soft neck garlic harvest in his little as 3 months four or even 5 months is completely normal and Depends entirely on the variety that you're growing and of course your climate to know for sure all garlic is ready for Harvest when 1/2 to 2/3 of the foliage has started to die off this applies to the hard necks as well so let's look at these guys next while soft necks can be planted in either fall winter or spring hard neck garlic does not enjoy this Freedom as we mentioned hard neck garlic requires a period of chilling winter basically to receive the clue to stimulate the bulb formation as a result us hard neck Growers plant our garlic cloves about a month before our first fall frost date given the amount of cold climates out there that means that we could be planting our garlic in either September October or even November now in situations with unusually warm weather the bulbs often spring up right away further adding to the confusion of growing garlic you see garlic cloves essentially spring to life as soon as they come in contact with moisture it's precisely why you see all those videos with people pre-sprouting their cloves in either plastic or styro cups useless as far as actually growing garlic but it looks cool on video and many people get excited to try it but in terms of growing to a viable Harvest garlic cloves will Sprout just fine in the soil all on their own in fact years or areas with severe Winters sprouting early is actually discouraged doing so has been known to cause premature rot and even death of the plants so with it in the ground and growing nicely just how long does a hardneck garlic crop take to grow planting to harvest well that same same 3 to four Monon growth counter that we saw on the soft necks starts up with these guys in the spring add in the five to 6 months of fall and winter dormy and you have an 8 to 10 month growing cycle for hard neck garlic that's right nearly a full year passes since you plant a hard neck garlic clove in the fall until it bulbs up and is ready for Harvest it's a long crop no doubt about about that but it's the growing through all four seasons that really contributes to the perceived length but when you really analyze it half of that or even more is over winter dormy with little to no work on our part so soft necks are 3 to 5 months planting to harvest hard necks like these 15 porcelain here are 8 to 10 months look we covered a lot today and not just the garlic growing length so let's recap those main points to make sure we got it all [Music] [Music] garlic once you figure it out is it an amazing crop certainly one of my alltime favorites the set it and forget it attitude of its lifestyle really appeals to me as does the self-sufficient nature of planting harvesting and then planting again hopefully today I've demystified the timelines of growing garlic and that your next batch of this amazing crops gives you no surprises hey happy growing guys and I'll see you soon hey thanks so much for watching guys I appreciate the support more than you know and if you're getting value from these videos please like and share them to spread the word and help your fellow Gardener to grow better

Channel: The Ripe Tomato Farms

Views: 36,001

Keywords: garlic, growing garlic, how to grow garlic, garlic lifecycle, garlic length, the ripe tomato farms, how to grow garlic at home, growing garlic from cloves, growing garlic from store bought garlic, growing garlic at home, growing garlic at home indoors, garlic planting, garlic plant care, garlic plant problems, planting garlic, planting garlic bulbs, fall gardening, planting bulbs

Id: 0myu7eGTCSI

Length: 9min 20sec (560 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2024