Hey everyone! My garlic shipment just arrived, and I'm trying to decide when to plant it. The temperatures have started to cool down a bit, but it's still pretty warm during the day. I'd love to hear when you all are planning to plant your garlic and onions!
6 Answers
I'm planning to plant my garlic this week, definitely before October ends. As for onions, I’ll start those seeds in a few months and plant them in spring.
I just planted 21,000 cloves yesterday on my farm in NE PA! With 24 years of experience, I usually aim for the first or second week of October, but I've planted as early as September 13 and as late as December. I’m also trying some sweet onions from seed this year in a tunnel as I've had issues with frost heave in the past.
I planted my garlic about three weeks ago, but I live in zone 3, so we often get snow by Halloween! Definitely had to get it in early for that frost.
I’m new to this, but I’ve been waiting for the weather to cool down more consistently before planting my garlic. I don’t want them to sprout too early.
I usually plant my garlic right before the first frost. Those who say to wait six weeks are just going for optimal conditions, but honestly, I just plant whenever I can and cover it with pine needles since that’s what I have at hand. It works fine for me!
Why do they say not to use pine needles? I have plenty of them too!
Quick question—do you cover the entire area with pine needles, or just the areas where the garlic is planted?
I'm in Sweden and planted a couple of weeks ago. We've had frost a few times, but the weather is much warmer than usual right now, so I think it's a good time!

Wow, that’s a lot of garlic! Any tips for someone with a few raised beds?