Will Garlic Grow If You Plant It In The Spring?

There are a few reasons you might have missed planting garlic in late autumn. Although fall is the perfect time, life gets in the way. Perhaps you were planning to move to a new home. Maybe you just got too busy and didn't get those bulbs in the ground before it froze. If you're like me, you probably forgot. Whatever the reason, as House Digest's Garden Editor and in-house Master Gardener, I'm happy to tell you that yes, your garlic will grow if you plant it in the spring. However, your harvest may not be all you had hoped for.

It doesn't look like it grows much over the winter, but garlic planted in the fall has time to slowly grow roots, and if you live in all but the coldest climates, you will likely see the green tops start to emerge. Garlic is hardy and will withstand inches of snow as it slowly develops. Then when the warm days of spring hit, this bulb uses its stored energy to take off. One clove expands into a head, and the green tops may develop scapes, depending on whether you're growing hardneck or softneck garlic. Those scapes, by the way, are the buds of blooms and should be removed to allow the plant to put its energy into bulb development. Don't toss them, though — they make tasty additions to sauteed veggies.

If you have waited until March to plant garlic, I have some good news and (possibly) bad news. The good news is that a single clove will grow into an edible bulb of garlic. The bad news is that it won't be nearly as big as fall-planted bulbs, and you will probably get a single head instead of individual cloves before it gets too hot and your garlic is ready to harvest. This is usually in mid- to late-summer, depending on where you live.

If you have a single head of garlic instead of cloves, you have a few options for what to do with it. You can save it for fall planting and use it as a seed bulb for next year's harvest. Or you can dig it up and use it in a recipe like you would any other garlic. The only real difference is that you will chop it up like an onion instead of dividing and removing the skin from individual cloves. Personally, I kind of like having this kind of first-year garlic mixed in with mature cloves. The flavor is a little less strong, but if you are a garlic lover like me, it's great for slicing thin and adding to roasted veggies or sautés.