Can I replant garlic from my own harvest?
Written by
Nguyen Minh
Reviewed by
Prof. Samuel Fitzgerald, Ph.D.How to grow garlic sustainably starts with saving your best bulbs each harvest. I reserve twenty percent of each harvest for replanting. It is clear that large cloves from vigorous plants outperform store-bought stock, so always reserve some from the previous crop to increase regenerative sustainability. The "Music" hardnecks from last season are adapting well to my clay soil and produced bulbs that are on average thirty percent larger than the original batch.
Bulb Criteria
- Choose heads with 4+ uniform cloves
- Discard any with brown spots or softness
- Minimum clove size: 1" (2.5cm) diameter
Storage Prep
- Cure bulbs 3 weeks at 60-70% humidity
- Store at 50-55°F (10-13°C) in mesh bags
- Inspect monthly for mold/sprouting
24 hours before planting, separate the cloves. Then, soak them in a 1% baking soda solution, as I heard from my mentor in Wisconsin to eliminate any surface pathogens. The root plates should be down, and angle the tips northwest to catch the morning sun. For every three seasons that I did this, I increased the emergence rate by 40% with just this one modification!
Improved Vigor
- Bulb size increases yearly
- Drought tolerance develops
- Pest resistance strengthens
Flavor Evolution
- Sulfur compounds intensify
- Regional terroir expressed
- Heat levels stabilize
Replant the garlic beds every three years in a cycle. I mix in fava beans as nitrogen-fixing legumes to help restore the soil. My seventh-generation bulbs are now thriving in soil with a pH of 6.3, compared to when I started planting them they would hardly grow at a lower pH. With each cycle, I am writing a stronger genetic code suitable for your microclimate.
Read the full article: How to Grow Garlic Successfully in Any Climate
