Spring Care for Garlic: Feeding, Watering and Scapes

Pull the mulch back as soon as growth restarts

When new green appears at the center of each plant and the soil has thawed, rake the mulch off the crowns and into the gaps between the rows. Leaving four inches (10 cm) of wet straw sitting on top of restarting plants keeps the soil cold, holds moisture against the neck, and gives the spring rots an easy start.

Do not clear the bed completely. An inch (2.5 cm) of loose mulch left between the plants suppresses weeds through spring and keeps soil moisture steady in late spring when the bulb is filling. What you are removing is the cap over the plant itself, not the cover over the bed.

1. Wait for green in the center Uncover when new leaves are visibly pushing up, not on a fixed date. Uncovering into a hard frost sets the plants back.
2. Rake the mulch into the paths Move the straw off the crowns and pile it between the rows. Keep about an inch (2.5 cm) around the plants for weed control.
3. Count and check the stand Note how many cloves came through and where the gaps are. Gaps in a run usually mean rot or mice, and both are worth knowing about.

Feed early, then stop before the bulb sizes up

Garlic builds leaves first and bulb second, and each leaf corresponds to one wrapper layer around the finished bulb. Nitrogen applied while the leaves are still coming produces more and bigger leaves, which is exactly what you want. Give the first feed when growth restarts and a second about a month later, using a nitrogen-rich fertilizer at roughly two ounces per square yard (60 g per square meter) each time.

Then stop. Once the plant is putting energy into the bulb, further nitrogen pushes soft leaf growth at the expense of bulb weight, gives you thick necks that will not cure properly, and makes the crop far more attractive to rust and to onion pests. As a rule of thumb, no nitrogen goes on after the plant has around six full leaves, or from roughly two months before you expect to harvest.

If the leaves are pale and thin at the second feed, feed again in two weeks. If they are dark, floppy and thick at the base, skip it. Thick necks at harvest almost always trace back to nitrogen given too late.

One inch of water a week, then a dry finish

From the restart of growth until the bulb is full, garlic wants about an inch (2.5 cm) of water per week including rainfall, delivered as one deep soak rather than daily sprinkles. The roots run down eight to twelve inches (20 to 30 cm), and shallow watering leaves the deep roots dry while keeping the neck wet, which is the worst possible combination.

The last two to three weeks before harvest are deliberately dry. Water at that stage keeps the wrappers wet and thin, splits them, stains them with soil, and gives you bulbs that will not store. A slight wilt at midday in that final fortnight is acceptable and even useful. Push a finger into the soil to decide rather than guessing from the surface, which dries and looks alarming long before the root zone does.

1. Water deeply and infrequently Soak the row until the water has reached six inches (15 cm) down, then leave it until the top two inches (5 cm) are dry again. Usually once a week.
2. Keep water off the leaves Put the water on the soil at the base. Wet foliage in spring is how rust and downy mildew get established.
3. Stop watering before harvest Once the lower leaves start yellowing, cut water off entirely. Dry ground for the last two to three weeks is what gives you clean, tight, storable wrappers.

Weeds cost you more than they look like they should

Garlic has thin, upright leaves and no canopy, so it never shades out competition. Weeds left in a garlic row through spring routinely cut bulb weight by a third or more, and the loss is invisible until you dig. This is the single highest return job in the whole garlic year.

Weed by hand or with a very shallow hoe. Garlic roots run close to the surface and out sideways, so a hoe driven more than an inch (2.5 cm) deep cuts feeding roots and does more harm than the weeds did. Go along the row every fortnight from the restart of growth and pull everything while it is small.

1. Hand weed within the row Pull weeds growing between the plants by hand while they are small enough to come out without disturbing the garlic roots.
2. Hoe shallowly between rows Skim the surface at under an inch (2.5 cm). You are cutting weed stems, not cultivating the soil.
3. Keep an inch of mulch down The mulch you raked into the paths, spread thinly back around the plants, halves the weeding and keeps soil moisture even.

Cut the scapes on hardneck garlic

Hardneck garlic sends up a stiff central flower stem, the scape, in late spring. It emerges straight, then curls into a full loop, then straightens again as the bud swells. Left on the plant it takes a real share of the energy that should be going into the bulb, so cutting it typically increases bulb weight by 20 to 30 percent.

Cut when the scape has made one complete curl, before it straightens up. Snap or cut it off just above the top leaf, leaving the leaves intact, since every leaf you remove costs you a wrapper layer. Softneck garlic does not usually produce scapes at all, so if nothing appears there is nothing wrong. The scapes themselves are excellent food, and they keep for weeks in the fridge.

1. Wait for the full curl Cut once the scape has looped right round. Cutting it dead straight and very young gains you little, and leaving it until it straightens again costs bulb weight.
2. Cut above the top leaf Take the scape off just above the highest leaf. Cutting into the leaves below removes wrapper layers from the finished bulb.
3. Note the scape date Scaping happens roughly three to four weeks before harvest. Record the date, and next year it becomes your best single predictor of when to start checking bulbs.