7 Garlic Growing Stages from Planting to Harvest

Garlic is one of my favorite vegetables to grow. It’s easy to care for, perfect for beginner gardeners, and rewards you with its unmistakable flavor. If you’re thinking about growing your own garlic, understanding its different growth phases will help you make the most of your harvest.

Depending on your location and the variety you choose, garlic takes anywhere from five to ten months to grow from sowing to harvest. That’s a long wait, but knowing the garlic growing stages allows you to fully appreciate the flavors garlic develops along the way.

Beyond its culinary appeal, garlic is packed with health benefits. Its cloves are rich in essential vitamins and minerals that support the immune system. Regular consumption may also help lower blood pressure and improve cholesterol levels. Plus, it’s great for heart health—and might even keep a vampire or two at bay!

Garlic Growing Stages

The strength of garlic’s flavor varies depending on the garlic growing stage and the variety you’re growing. Below, we’ll explore the different garlic growing stages and share tips on how to harvest at each phase.

Germination

Each garlic bulb contains an average of 6 to 15 individual cloves, with each clove acting as a single seed that eventually grows into a full bulb. However, garlic cloves are not true seeds in the traditional sense. Having been cultivated for over 4,000 years for optimal flavor and bulb size, most garlic varieties have lost the ability to produce viable seeds. While some still develop flowers, these often die off before producing seeds.

Garlic can be planted in either fall or spring, depending on the variety. Fall-planted garlic may remain dormant for up to three months before sprouting. During this period, root development takes place underground, creating a strong foundation to support the plant through winter.

Hardneck varieties require a period of cold vernalization to trigger clove formation. When planted in fall, nature takes care of this process, but spring-planted garlic may need refrigeration beforehand to ensure proper development. Spring-sown cloves establish roots quickly and typically send up shoots about a month after planting.

The variety Early Purple Wight is a fall-planted softneck garlic that matures early, with harvests beginning in late May in warmer regions and early June in cooler zones. Shoots may not appear until late winter but grow rapidly once they emerge. Cristo is a versatile variety that can be planted in either fall or spring, though spring-planted garlic has a shorter growing season and produces shoots within a few weeks of planting.

Spring Garlic (aka Green Garlic)

Spring or green garlic is harvested when the plants have developed tall, lush green shoots, but the bulbs underground are still immature. It can be used similarly to spring onions, with its fresh garlic-onion flavor adding a mild kick to salads, sandwiches, or as a garnish.

Unlike cured mature bulbs, spring garlic does not have a long storage life. It should be consumed fresh or kept in a cool place for up to a week.

Scaping

Garlic scapes are the modified flower stalks of hardneck garlic varieties. These strong, often curly stems develop a closed, pointed bud at the tip. If left to mature, the bud will eventually open into a globe-like allium flower. However, allowing scapes to develop diverts energy away from the bulb, so removing them is essential for growing larger garlic heads. Their appearance is also a useful indicator that the garlic bulbs will be ready to harvest in about a month.

Garlic scapes offer a delicious bonus crop from a single clove. Harvested at this garlic growing stage, they can be sautéed in butter, added to stir-fries, or blended into a flavorful garlic scape pesto. Scapes are best used fresh but can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week. For longer storage, chop and freeze them in ice cube trays for easy use later.

Young Bulb Stage

If you need garlic before your crop is fully mature, you can harvest a bulb a few weeks early. While these young bulbs won’t reach their full size, they offer the added bonus of edible green leaves. Their fresh garlic flavor can range from very strong to mild, depending on the variety and garlic growing stage.

Unlike mature bulbs with dry, papery skins, young garlic heads are covered in a moist, leathery outer layer that has yet to fully develop. Like spring garlic and garlic scapes, they do not store well and should be used fresh or kept in a cool place for up to a week.

Mature Bulb Stage

The mature bulb stage is the ultimate goal for most garlic growers. Early summer brings a flood of social media posts showcasing bumper harvests—or, for some, disappointing crop failures. With garlic, it’s often difficult to gauge success until the bulbs are pulled from the ground—unless you take an early sneak peek.

At maturity, garlic plants should have stout, upright stalks with fleshy leaves, while the bulbs will be wrapped in white, pink, or purple papery skins. As they reach the final stage of their life cycle, the leaves gradually yellow and eventually turn brown, signaling that it’s time to harvest.

Mature bulbs can be used immediately or stored for later use. At this stage, they develop the bold, robust flavor that earlier growth stages lack.

Flowering Stage

When garlic bulbs reach maturity, their scapes unwind and point upward, while the buds burst open to reveal a classic allium globe of tiny white flowers tinged with pink. Often interspersed among these flowers are small bulbils—immature garlic cloves that can be saved and used to grow future garlic crops. Bulbils offer the advantage of being perfectly adapted to your local climate and completely disease-free.

Mature garlic bulbs from flowering stems tend to be smaller, but allowing garlic to flower is necessary if you want to collect seeds or bulbils. Garlic flowers also produce small, black seeds similar to onion seeds, though they are often not viable and fail to germinate. Growing garlic from bulbils or seeds requires patience, as it can take three to four years to produce harvestable bulbs. For a faster and more reliable crop, planting garlic cloves remains the best method.

Harvesting Stage

Harvest garlic bulbs when one-third to half of the leaves have turned yellow. Leaving bulbs in the ground too long can cause them to split open, allowing soil and moisture to penetrate, which increases the risk of rot during storage.

When harvesting, take care to avoid damaging the plant’s base. Gently lift the entire plant, brush off excess soil, and lay the bulbs in a single layer in a well-ventilated, shaded area protected from the elements. Curing takes about two weeks, during which the leaves, stems, and outer layers should dry completely.

Once cured, trim back the leaves and peel off the outermost papery layer to remove any remaining soil. Store the bulbs in a cool, dark place until needed, and enjoy their strong, robust flavor.

For next season’s crop, select a few of your largest, healthiest bulbs to use as seed garlic.

Frequently Asked Questions