Planting Hard Neck Garlic - September 2026

I've never grown garlic.  

But, that is changing.  

Thanks to one of the parents of a Swim Team teammate, I'm the proud owner of a single full head of hard neck garlic that they grow in their garden each year.  Here's what it looks like:

The instructions were simple:  break apart the six bulbs.  And, prepare them to plant:

Removing the bulbs left this carcass of a stem and roots.  

I'm actually NOT sure if I can grow garlic in a raised bed.  Will the cold temperatures freeze the bulbs? Maybe?  I didn't want to take the risk.  

But, where can I grow them?  I don't have a dedicated ground-level vegetable garden that I could tuck the bulbs into.  So...where?

I opted for two spots:  both IB2DWs.  Yes...I planted these garlic bulbs in amongst perennials.  

The first three are near the Bald Cypress tree IB2DWs:

I covered them with a little bit of garden litter as mulch:

And the other three are closer to the garage, further up the driveway:

From what I understand, growing these require a few simple steps:

After tucking them in, just provide a little bit of water this Fall and next Spring.

They'll grow a flower-like thing (a scape) that you have to cut off once it curls up.

Then, like a potato, you watch the foliage.  When it dies back, it is time to dig up the garlic heads. 

Hang them up for a couple of weeks to dry out.  Probably in the garage.  

That's it.  

I planted six cloves of garlic.  Here's hoping we end up with six heads.  Of six cloves.  Next Summer.  And, hopefully....begin the endless loop of infinite garlic.  Plant six, get 36 cloves.  Use 24, then plant 12, get 72.  And so on.

Also, if this doesn't just SCREAM that I should make a row of garden beds to grow stuff in them in our backyard like this Blue Sky Project I've talked about, what does?