The first year I grew garlic, I planted bulbs I had purchased from the grocery store. I was just experimenting to see if the bulbs would grow here. The bulbs were from the California garlic growing area. I planted them in an unused section of my garden in the fall and next spring I noticed they were growing. I harvested a large amount of garlic and had no idea what to do with it.
So I would say yes, you can use store bought garlic to grow a crop of garlic. Just separate the cloves and plant with the sharp end up, about 4 inches apart.
The best bulbs to plant will be from a garlic farms that grow garlic for people who want to try it in their garden or on their farm. I order my seed garlic from Blue Moon Farms here in Kentucky. They have a good bit of advice about planting and growing garlic on their web site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Moon Garlic Farm

oooohhhh....me too! me too! I'm a deep south Florida gardener and I have 12 cloves of sprouted garlic. How deep to plant on cloves that already have the green nub coming up? Is it too late for me to start since i'm so far south? This I'm going to use as an experiment year so that i can have a good technique for the "good" garlic next year. Are there a veriety of things different gardeners do with their plantings that they think helps them more? I'd be willing to split into groups and have a science project. This is going to be fun!

thanks
kristiina

Angela, I assume you know to separate the individual cloves rather than plant the entire thing. Leave the paper skins on each clove although it's no disaster if they slip off. If the cloves are already sprouted, and planting now in freshly worked soil, place them so that the base (root end) of the clove is 3" deep. Space them at 6 to 8 inches apart. With all probabilty of them being a common softneck, you should have good results.

Kristina, same instructions for you but I have no idea when the best time would be for you. Sounds good right now!

Martin

Awesome martin! It's FIRST on my "to-do" list for Sat. morning. Are there any things that some gardners do that others don't? I'd like to try a few different controls so that i can have a good launching point for next year. Of course i don't want to try a veriety of techniques if there's only ONE RIGHT WAY to grow garlic.

Angela, it looks as though we may be in for an educational and yummy ride...i hope both of our garlic does as well as i'm hoping. :-P

Kristiina

If you are useing a tiller between rows, don't till deeply. Both garlic and onions have shallow roots. Garlic will have roots in the neighborhood of 30" in all directions excepting up.
Please do purchase or trade for some hardneck garlic. It will not store as long but will taste much better than California Early or CA Late garlic.
Angela, most hardnecks should do well in your area.
Kristina, there should be one that will do well in your area. I have one that I am sure would do well there. It comes up first and grows faster than any other I have, includeing Ca Early.

after clearing more space to enlarge my garden, I was lunking around and read that I could plant garlic new years day or later. I planted a bulb in the way as describded in one of the posts and have had to keep putting more pine straw on it to keep it covered 18" to date. It was a store bought bulb and all 15 cloves have sprouted. If it works out next year I will buy diffrent types because, this is easy so far and now I have instructions on drying it thanks.
john

John,
I would suggest that you plant a few more cloves with just 3 or 4" of cover and see how that works as a comparison.I never mulch, altho that would help with the early weeds. Always get a good crop and no frost burn.

I'm keeping it covered for the snow and ice storms that most likly won't happen this winter, but I'm begining to wonder if it is going to harm the plants by keeping so much cover on them. Will snow or ice( never get a lot) kill them? I'll try planting some with only 3 or 4" this weekend to see if there is a difference when grown.

Freeze and thaw is the damaging factor. With the difference in expansion of freezing material, it gets moved around. If the garlic bulb is moved around, it breaks loose from the roots. In North Carolina, I wouldn't worry too much about that happening. Friend in the Chapel Hill area just covers them with a few inches of shredded leaves. She has regular straw available but prefers the leaves for decomposing in situ later.

Martin

Does one little clove of garlic produce a head of garlic? I want to try growing garlic and onions in containers. Any advice will be appreciated. I live in central Florida.

Lurline

Indeed, one garlic clove becomes one garlic bulb.

Martin

Thanks for all the pertinent information I needed to get started experimenting w/growing garlic. I am new on this forum and really was excited to see everyone's comments.
I know you anwsered the question I had, so again, Thanks.
Be glad to hear from any of you.

Marsha

I'm a few years behind all of you, but I'm making my first attempt at growing garlic. I ordered several varieties from Gormet Garlic Gardens which are supposed to be well suited for the warmer climate. I planted them on 01/25. The instructions that came with the garlic said to soak the cloves for about 16 hours in a solution of 1 gallon water & 1 tablespoon baking soda. Then just before planting put the cloves in rubbing alcohol for 3-5 minutes. Apparently this helps to kill any bacteria.

Interesting comments on soaking. I've never soaked my garlic in any solution before planting and have had good results. Do most garlic growers presoak their garlic?

When I decided to try growing garlic over 10 years ago, I bought a couple of heads from an organic grocery store. I did some research later & determined that they're hardnecks. It was too confusing to read descriptions of the various named types so I gave up wanting a name for what I grow. Every year I plant in the fall & harvest late spring. Of course, I save a portion of every harvest to replant in the fall. I hope everyone knows that garlic improves w/acclimatization. For that reason, I don't understand why people purchase garlic to grow every year. My garlic heads have huge cloves, & each clove is protected in a tough skin that is comparable to that of soft-shell pecans! I am a single-person household, so I share w/my closest family & friends. They all love my garlic & wait for their share every year.