How many garlic's per square.

**jimmy cee** 10/10/2013, 11:24 am

After attending a garlic presentation yesterday at our local library, I'm wondering how many should I plant per square.
They recommend 6inches apart for plants, and rows.
I am thinking I should be able to do better than that in MM.
This was given by a master gardener who specializes in garlic growing.

**llama momma** 10/10/2013, 11:40 am

This is only my second year and I'm going with Seed Savers Instructions of 6-8 inches apart. For me it's six inches or 4 per square. Seems to me crowding them could diminish bulb size and that's the opposite of my goal.

**donnainzone5** 10/10/2013, 11:55 am

LM,

Last year, I planted nine garlics per square and had good results--most of the bulbs were fairly large.

Perhaps I'll try an experimental square this year, though, and plant only four.

It's almost that time....

**jimmy cee** 10/10/2013, 1:15 pm

OK good
I'll plant 6 in one square and 4 in another. 9 in another.
Although I am led to believe the size of the garlic head is dependent on the size of the clove planted.
I'm just finishing up my 3rd SFG bed, all that good MM is just calling for something to grow.

**Turan** 10/10/2013, 1:29 pm

I am thinking to plant 5-6/ square. My idea is to plant in a more hexagonal pattern with 6" between plants in all directions. In the past I kept them farther apart and interplanted carrots etc. It all seems to work though.

**llama momma** 10/10/2013, 4:26 pm

jimmy cee wrote:..... I'm wondering how many should I plant per square.

So Jimmy how do you like the choices -- between 4 and 9 per square!
rofl

mrwes40 10/10/2013, 7:08 pm

jimmy cee wrote:After attending a garlic presentation yesterday at our local library, I'm wondering how many should I plant per square.
They recommend 6inches apart for plants, and rows.
I am thinking I should be able to do better than that in MM.
This was given by a master gardener who specializes in garlic growing.

I've always done 9 per square and never had any issues.

Bill

mrwes40 10/10/2013, 7:09 pm

jimmy cee wrote:After attending a garlic presentation yesterday at our local library, I'm wondering how many should I plant per square.
They recommend 6inches apart for plants, and rows.
I am thinking I should be able to do better than that in MM.
This was given by a master gardener who specializes in garlic growing.

I've always done 9 per square and never had any issues.

Bill

**jimmy cee** 10/10/2013, 8:39 pm

llama momma wrote:
jimmy cee wrote:..... I'm wondering how many should I plant per square.
So Jimmy how do you like the choices -- between 4 and 9 per square!

I love em all....I'll have enough room now that I have a 3rd bed complete.
My right outside squares are smaller than 1ft sq, so I will plant 2 garlic's per square, (maybe 3 if I feel adventurous)
Hopefully I will have my 4X5 bed done before winter sets in.
Thats going to be just for shallots next season

Just finished this one today
How many garlic's per square. Floati10

**camprn** 10/10/2013, 8:50 pm

I plant mine about 4+ inches apart in the entire bed, offset from each other. This makes the number per square varied. I get about 100 cloves into the 4X6 bed.

SFGHealthCoach 10/11/2013, 6:09 pm

I generally do 9 per square foot also - although I am thinking of trying 16!

plantoid 10/11/2013, 6:22 pm

SFGHealthCoach wrote:I generally do 9 per square foot also - although I am thinking of trying 16!

I'd offer you to stick at 9 ... I've tried 12 & 16 , in my opinion there is not enough space to get decent sized bulbs as the over crowding also takes out a lot of the nutrients . Side dressing helps with the big numbers but not as good as when you only have 9 cloves per square.
The over crowded squares didn't produce a bulb worthy of calling it a bulb as most were less than 1 " in diameter despite the side feeding.

My French farmer pal who has several hectares of garlic each year says , " Garlic loves light sandy soil with plenty of humus , sun ,space and the odd watering if needed .. they thrive on neglect so long as you don't have many weeds " .

efnjim 2/28/2014, 4:02 pm

I have been having great lucky with garlic every 3 to 4 inches apart in a 4ft. X 4ft. Raised bed app. 144 garlic . So easy to grow.

**donnainzone5** 2/28/2014, 7:07 pm

I do 9 garlics per square. I had wonderful results this past year.

**jimmy cee** 2/28/2014, 7:18 pm

I went with the 9 per square.
Now I am wondering with this severe winter we have had if they will survive ?
The MM is frozen solid.

**donnainzone5** 2/28/2014, 7:59 pm

Jimmy,

I planted my garlic in late October.

The first week in December, our temps fell to somewhere between -15F and -26F, depending upon which weather station one believes. (I was out of town that weekend, so couldn't check my own thermometer.) Since then, it has hit -4F a couple of times.

Lo and behold! ALL of the garlic cloves I planted are up, albeit later than they were last year.

So, don't fret.

**camprn** 2/28/2014, 8:21 pm

jimmy cee wrote:I went with the 9 per square.
Now I am wondering with this severe winter we have had if they will survive ?
The MM is frozen solid.

My garlic is frozen solid for at least 5 months. Those alliums are a hardy bunch!

cpl100 4/21/2014, 2:21 pm

Wow, wish I had known I could put nine. I did five only last year and the previous year. The garlic heads were not huge by any means but I am 'sunlight challenged' (except in winter when leaves are off the trees) which I'm sure is a significant factor.

**donnainzone5** 4/21/2014, 2:43 pm

I've always grown nine garlics per square.

Last summer, they produced huge cloves, most of which I re-planted in October. Those plants are now much more robust than the seed garlic I bought at a local nursery.

Gee: I just noticed that my spell check inserts an apostrophe in the word "garlics," which is incorrect. I've been wondering for years why this mistake is so common, but now I've found the culprit: spell check!

jmsieglaff 4/21/2014, 6:42 pm

I do 9/sq also and get good sized heads.

Justin

brainchasm 4/21/2014, 7:42 pm

This is my first year for garlic (Red Inchelium), and I planted 9/sq. They all seem like they have plenty of room, and are doing well.

p14shooter 3/25/2016, 5:57 pm

just scanning through the posts and came here. I have 24 bulbs planted. This was not done in SFG methods as I said in other posts, but upon measuring the space I used, if I had used the SFG method, I would have put 54 in the same space using 9 per. Next year I will definitely be smarter.

**Kelejan** 3/25/2016, 6:08 pm

To my way of thinking, it depends on the total weight produced.

Whether you plant 4, 5 or 9 per square, there is only so much space and nutrients available per square so perhaps only so much garlic by weight produced?

I plant nine per square myself. Most of the garlic grown, although no larger than the ones I produced the previous year had fewer cloves but much larger. Generally three to four cloves per garlic bulb planted, compared to six to eight much smaller cloves the first year.

**Scorpio Rising** 3/25/2016, 9:55 pm

9/square for me.

**donnainzone5** 3/25/2016, 10:23 pm

I do nine garlics per square foot (no apostrophe; one does not form plurals by adding an extraneous apostrophe).

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