Onions & garlic
Garlic
Plant cloves early to mid Oct.
- Outside
- Plant cloves early to mid Oct
- Where
- Raised bed or in ground
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Even in spring; dry down before the lift
- Harvest
- Late May to Jun, leaves browning
Care
- Water
- Watering is a spring job: steady moisture as the bulbs swell, a deep soak about weekly, then ease off as the lower leaves yellow so the heads cure tight in the ground before the early-summer lift.
- Sow
- Cloves, not seed. Split a good bulb and push its biggest cloves point-up into mulched ground. The county lists garlic in its October and November sowing windows, and the statewide rule of 4 to 6 weeks before the first frost lands in early to mid October.
- Feed
- Compost worked into the bed at planting carries the winter; one light side-dress as spring growth starts, then nothing. Clay holds fertilizer well, so one good feeding outlasts the sandy-bed calendars.
- Ready
- Lift as the heat arrives in late May and June, when the lowest leaves have browned but the top ones hold green. Cure whole plants somewhere dry, airy and shaded before trimming, and set the biggest heads aside for October's planting.
- Trouble
- Bulbs that split into loose cloves sat too long, so lift on time. Soft heads that will not store point to a wet late cure, so cut the water by early summer. Beyond that it is the least-bothered plant in the bed.
In a bag?
- No
- A bed crop here. The Texas container guide lists no size for garlic, and the cloves winter over in ground that never freezes solid, so the bed grows the real crop; a patio bag buys nothing but a smaller harvest.
Garlic bookends the Killeen year: cloves in during early to mid October, bulbs out as early summer arrives.
Growing
The county puts garlic in its September-October planting list, and the statewide table's 4 to 6 weeks before first frost computes to early-to-mid October against the November 15 anchor. The cloves grow all winter in ground that never freezes solid, ride out spring, and harvest as the heat arrives. The Aggie garlic sheet names the Southern set, all softneck-family: California Early, California Softneck, Elephant Garlic, French Mild Silverskin, Mexican Purple and New York White, so start from good seed garlic rather than a supermarket bulb, and plant the biggest cloves.
In the kitchen
The cured heads carry the kitchen from early summer straight through the salsa season; cooked salsas conventionally start with onion and garlic in the oil. Roast a fresh head at the June lift, ahead of the fall tomatoes.