How to Plant Music Garlic in Canada: Shnab’s Fall Planting Guide
If you want big, healthy garlic next summer, it starts with getting your garlic planted properly in the fall.
At Shnab’s Garlic in Ontario, we grow Music hardneck garlic on a commercial scale. Over the years, we’ve learned that garlic doesn’t have to be complicated. Good seed, proper spacing, the right planting depth, and good soil preparation go a long way.
Here is how we plant our garlic—and how you can adapt the same method for your garden or farm.
When Do We Plant Garlic in Ontario?
At Shnab’s, we generally start planting around September 15.
Garlic needs time to establish roots before winter, but the goal isn’t to produce a lot of green top growth before freezing weather arrives.
The exact planting date can vary depending on your location and the weather. In our part of Ontario, starting around the middle of September works well for our operation.
Start With Good Seed Garlic
Before planting, separate your garlic bulbs into individual cloves. Each clove becomes a new garlic plant and, under good growing conditions, develops into a full bulb the following summer.
We grow Music garlic, a hardneck variety that performs very well in Ontario’s climate and is known for its large cloves and excellent flavour.
Choose healthy, firm cloves for planting. Don’t remove the papery skin from the individual cloves.
Our Garlic Spacing
- 5–6 inches between cloves
- 20 inches between rows
- 3–4 inches deep
This gives each garlic plant room to develop while still allowing us to grow efficiently on a commercial scale. For a home garden, these measurements are also a good starting point.
Which Way Should the Garlic Clove Point?
If you’re planting garlic by hand, place each clove with the roots down and the pointed end up. This encourages the plant to grow upward with a straighter stem.
On our farm, we plant mechanically with a garlic planter. The cloves drop from the planter into the soil, so they don’t necessarily land perfectly with the roots facing down. The garlic still grows.
However, because some cloves land sideways or at an angle, the plants may develop curved or less-straight stems as they turn upward toward the surface. That’s one advantage you have when planting a smaller amount by hand: you can position every clove roots-down.
Do We Cover Our Garlic With Straw?
No. At Shnab’s, we do not cover our garlic fields with straw.
You’ll find many garlic-growing guides recommending a thick layer of straw mulch for winter protection. That can be useful in some growing systems, but it isn’t the only way to successfully grow garlic.
Our garlic is planted directly into the prepared soil and goes through the Ontario winter without a straw covering. For home gardeners, whether to mulch can depend on your soil, climate, weed pressure, drainage, and growing method.
How Deep Should Garlic Be Planted?
We plant approximately 3–4 inches deep. Planting depth helps protect the cloves through winter and keeps them properly positioned in the soil as roots develop.
When planting by hand, make a hole or furrow, place the clove roots-down, and cover it with soil. Avoid packing the soil excessively hard over the cloves.
What Happens After Planting?
Once the garlic is planted, much of the work happens underground. The cloves establish roots, survive the winter, and then begin vigorous growth as temperatures warm in spring.
Music garlic is a hardneck garlic, so later in the growing season it will also produce a garlic scape. Removing the scape allows the plant to direct more of its energy toward developing the bulb.
Then comes the part we’ve been waiting for: harvest season in July.
Shnab’s Quick Garlic Planting Guide
Planting time: Starting around September 15 in our area of Ontario
Clove spacing: 5–6 inches
Row spacing: 20 inches
Planting depth: 3–4 inches
Clove position when planting by hand: Roots down, point up
Straw mulch: We don’t use it on our commercial fields
Garlic variety: Music hardneck garlic
Typical harvest: July
One Last Tip From Our Farm
Don’t worry about making garlic growing overly complicated.
We plant on a commercial scale, so not every clove goes into the ground perfectly upright. Garlic is remarkably good at finding its way toward the surface.
But if you’re planting by hand, take advantage of it. Put the roots down and the point up. It takes only a little extra effort and should give you straighter plants.
Whether you’re planting a few cloves in your backyard or several acres, it all starts the same way:
One good clove in the ground this fall can become a beautiful bulb next summer.
— Shnab’s Garlic
Ontario-Grown Music Garlic