Planting Garlic and Onion

The pictures above looks/ sounds like a wonderfully efficient gardening system I have! Getting my loving husband to handle the planting is certainly the easiest method. 

Best practices for planting garlic and onions in the autumn, right before the winter sets in, to ensure a good harvest next summer.

Here  are concise, easy-to-read guide for anyone who is doing the planting on how and when to plant garlic and onions for winter. This will include tips on timing, soil preparation, and planting depth.

The optimal timing and simple instructions for planting garlic and onions in the autumn in a climate similar to Norway. That’s the wonderful thing about delegating—you get all the delicious results with none of the muddy hands.

🧅 Winter Planting Guide: Garlic & Onions

This quick-reference guide covers the timing and simple steps for planting your garlic cloves and onion sets (small baby onions) now, so they can survive the winter and give you an early, bountiful harvest next summer.

⏰ When to Plant: The Optimal Timing

The goal is to plant late enough that the bulbs don’t put on too much green leaf growth before the deepest cold hits, but early enough for the roots to establish firmly.

• Garlic: Aim for late September through late November (before the ground freezes solid). Garlic needs the cold period (vernalization) to split into a full head of cloves.
  
• Onions: Plant the special “overwintering” onion sets from late September through October. Planting sets too late can reduce their size, and planting them too early can cause them to bolt (go to seed) prematurely in the spring.
  

🛠️ Step-by-Step Planting Instructions

Step	Garlic (from individual cloves)	Onions (from sets)
1. Soil Prep	Choose a sunny spot with well-draining soil. Work in plenty of compost or aged manure to enrich the bed—garlic are heavy feeders!	Same as garlic: sunny spot with free-draining soil. Onions also hate soggy, heavy ground.
2. Selection	Break the bulbs into individual cloves, leaving the papery skin on. Only plant the largest cloves; the bigger the clove, the bigger the resulting head of garlic. Discard the small ones.	Use onion sets (small, baby bulbs), not seeds, for winter planting success. Make sure they are a specific winter/overwintering variety.
3. Planting Depth	Plant the cloves 2-3 inches (5-8 cm) deep.	Plant the sets so that the tip is just poking outof the ground. They are planted much shallower than garlic.
4. Orientation	Plant with the pointy end UP (where the sprout comes from) and the flat, root-base end DOWN.	Plant with the pointy end UP.
5. Spacing	6 inches (15 cm) apart in all directions.	4-6 inches (10-15 cm) apart in all directions.
6. Winterizing	Water once lightly to settle the soil. Crucially, cover the bed with a thick layer of mulch (4-6 inches of straw or chopped leaves) once the ground cools, but before it freezes. This protects the cloves from heaving out of the soil due to frost.	Water once lightly. A light netting may be needed to prevent birds from pulling the tiny sets out of the ground, as they sometimes mistake them for a quick meal! Mulching is optional but helpful.

Remember that the right timing and good drainage is necessary.

The cold isn’t the enemy; a cold, wet grave for the bulbs is. If the soil drains well, they will survive the winter and be ready to spring into growth for an early summer harvest!

Would you like some simple recipes for dishes that really highlight the delicious flavor of home-grown garlic and onions in your dinner plates?