I mulch mine as soon as planted, which for me is mid November. Be sure your leaf mulch is very well chopped - matted leaves will inhibit the emergence of top growth in the spring.

Tom NJ

Thanks, Tom. We mowed the leaves with the lawn mower and added 6 inches or so of mulch. No snow, but we had rain today.

TomNJ gives great advice, I like using straw because of the matting issue, though it can still happen . If you can find some straw to lay down like 6" thick I feel that's better.

i agree about straw but at $9 a bale i used shredded leaves since they are free. tomnj is correct about leaves matting down that's why you want to use well chopped or shredded leaves. i found my garlic under 6" of whole leaves growing to 8" long the 1st year! once freed they stood up ok. i wondered why only a few plants emerged and when i removed the leaves i found they were compacted in wet layers that formed a dense mat so the plants were growing under the leaves.

tom

I've had the same experience of garlic growing horizontally under matted leaves, even though the leaves were chopped with my mower. Like Tom found, when freed they recovered.

I use spoiled hay at $4-5/bale here in central NJ. In the farm country of southern Virginia I saw some selling for $1-2/bale! Apparently the seeds are killed from the spoiling process (moisture, mold, heat) as I never get any sprouts from the hay, and I've been using it for over 25 years. You can also mix the hay with chopped leaves to reduce the possibility of matting.

TomNJ

Ever used rocks to mulch garlic? Wind here in SE Wyoming blows alot and with 60 mph gusts in fall and winter.

The main reasons to mulch garlic are weed prevention, and soil temperature stabilization. Ideally, the mulch insulates the ground long enough to allow the cloves to develop some root growth before the ground freezes - which helps prevent frost heave. The insulation provided by the mulch also prevents premature sprouting during early warm spells in Spring. Rocks might reduce weeds somewhat, and the garlic should push through (unless the rocks are large) but rocks are poor insulators.

I get a few very windy days here too, and would recommend mulching with dried alfalfa (if you can get it), or an alfalfa/hay mix. Bales are not hard to come by here, and I found quite a few current Wyoming sellers here. Alfalfa binds together well when spread in a layer & wetted down. Clover hay would be my second choice.