Once Vermont is well into fall frosts, it’s garlic planting time. Waiting until extended warm spells have ended ensures the garlic won’t germinate and begin growing until spring.
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Flashback to midsummer: We harvested the garlic planted in 2022 and reserved hundreds of the biggest, most beautiful cloves to become seed for the 2024 crop.
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Seed garlic awaits planting day.
![](https://thegardenat485elm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20231104-Ned-and-Tracy-plant-garlic.jpg)
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The garlic went into a bed of six rows. Each row is wide enough to hold multiple furrows of garlic seed. Gardeners marked the furrows, added the seed a fist width’s apart, sprinkled in compost, and fluffed soil over it all.
![](https://thegardenat485elm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20231104-Marisa-and-Tracy-plant-garlic-700x1024.jpg)
The garlic varieties are jell strain, Moreno hillside, porcelain, and elephant. Elephant is not a true garlic, but a member of the leek family. Some digestive systems upset by garlic will accommodate elephant garlic, which is milder tasting and delicious.
![](https://thegardenat485elm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20231104-Garlic-rows-with-leaves.jpg)
Three inches of leaves cover each row. The leaves prevent winter’s snow from compacting the soil, suppress weeds in the spring, and eventually break down to feed the soil.