The other thing that has helped with garlic success has been my choice of garlic varieties. For colder winters at high elevation, it’s best to choose “cold-hardy” varieties. I’ve had the best success with Siberian, Red Russian & Music garlic. 

One year I grew some elephant garlic which did quite well; the next year it was a flop and I found mush in the ground in the spring. (It had been planted in an exterior bed and may have been a colder winter.) Unless I get some good elephant garlic cheap, I probably won’t try it again.

I try to plant my garlic in late September, but I have also planted it successfully as late as November 1. After the summer’s harvest of lettuces & brassicas, the bed is replenished with garden compost, nutrients & fertilizer. In the garlic row I mix in some bone meal before planting the garlic. Again, this is planted in the center row of a 3 foot wide bed. It is watered in and the entire bed is covered with at least 4″ mulch (usually straw or hay, sometimes woodchips). Then I do nothing until spring.

As spring begins to warm up, I check for sprouts, and when the garlic begins to sprout, I remove most of the mulch, leaving 1-2″. Then I watch it grow! When the scapes begin to appear I cut them off to encourage more bulb growth, and use the scapes in broths & soups for extra garlic flavor.

Garlic is harvested when most of the tops are brown, and a “test” bulb seems to be full with papery skin. Then it’s hung to cure in the greenhouse. I store the garlic in a section of the cold closet that’s less cold & humid than the main section. It still gets pretty cold, probably 40-50 degrees F.