How to Choose Garlic for Planting
, by Earthwise Garlic, 4 min reading time
How to choose garlic for planting: hardneck vs softneck, variety selection by climate and kitchen, seed quality, clove size, and how much to order.
Choosing garlic for planting is not complicated, but a few decisions made before you order will have more impact on your harvest than anything you do in the field. Variety, seed quality, and clove size are the three variables that matter most.
Hardneck or Softneck: Start Here
Hardneck garlic produces a central rigid stalk (the scape) and develops fewer, larger cloves arranged in a single ring around it. It thrives in climates with a real winter, needs a cold period to develop properly, and delivers complex, layered flavor that softneck varieties rarely match. Storage life runs four to eight months depending on variety and conditions.
Softneck garlic skips the scape, produces more cloves per bulb, and stores significantly longer, often six to nine months. It tolerates milder winters better than hardneck types and is the variety you find braided at farmstands.
Most home growers in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and Northeast do best with hardnecks. Gardeners in the South or in mild coastal climates where winters stay above freezing often get better results with softnecks.
Match the Variety to Your Climate and Kitchen
Music is the most forgiving hardneck on the market. A Porcelain type, it produces large bulbs, stores well for a hardneck (around six months), and adapts to a wide range of climates. The flavor is robust and slightly hot when raw, mellowing to rich and buttery when roasted. Shop Music seed garlic.
Ukrainian Red is a Rocambole hardneck with deep, complex flavor and easy-peeling cloves. It performs best in climates with cold, consistent winters. Shop Ukrainian Red seed garlic.
Georgian Fire is a Porcelain hardneck from the country of Georgia and one of the hottest garlic varieties available. Cold hardy across a wide range of zones. Shop Georgian Fire seed garlic.
Donostia Red is a rare Creole hardneck with striking magenta-skinned cloves and bold, spicy flavor. Among the longest-storing hardnecks, keeping 9 to 10 months under proper conditions. Shop Donostia Red seed garlic.
Inchelium Red is an Artichoke softneck and one of the most decorated varieties in American garlic trials. It produces large bulbs with excellent storage (6 to 9 months) and mild, mellow flavor. Shop Inchelium Red seed garlic.
Lorz Italian is an Artichoke softneck with a long history in Pacific Northwest growing. Stores 6 to 9 months. Flexible tops after curing make it an excellent braiding variety. Shop Lorz Italian seed garlic.
Seed Quality Is Not Negotiable
Grocery store garlic is not seed garlic. Most of it is treated to extend shelf life and planting it is a gamble with your soil. At Earthwise Garlic, all seed stock is inspected annually by the Oregon Department of Agriculture for disease during the spring growth season. That inspection matters because garlic diseases, especially white rot and fusarium, persist in soil for decades once introduced.
Clove Size Predicts Bulb Size
Within any given variety, larger cloves produce larger bulbs. This is not a rule of thumb — it is consistent enough to treat as fact. When you crack a bulb for planting, set aside the outer cloves for planting and use the small interior cloves for cooking. Reputable seed garlic suppliers sell by weight rather than bulb count because clove size varies significantly across varieties.
How Much to Order
A pound of seed garlic plants roughly 20 to 25 row feet depending on clove size and spacing. For a 100-square-foot bed, plan on four to five pounds. Growing two or three varieties side by side your first season is more instructive than planting a single variety.
Timing
Plant hardneck garlic after the first fall frosts but before the ground freezes. In most of the Pacific Northwest, that window runs from mid-October through late November. Garlic needs cold temperatures after planting to vernalize properly — hardneck varieties require several weeks below 40°F to develop full bulb structure.
A Note on Growing Region
All six varieties grown at Earthwise Garlic perform reliably across most of the continental United States. The following designated counties in Idaho do not allow bulbs for planting: Ada, Bingham, Blaine, Boise, Bonneville, Canyon, Cassia, Elmore, Gem, Gooding, Jefferson, Jerome, Lincoln, Madison, Minidoka, Owyhee, Payette, Power, Twin Falls, and Washington Counties.
If you are unsure which variety fits your climate and growing goals, the hardneck and softneck sampler options let you trial multiple varieties in the same season without committing your entire bed to one choice.
Earthwise Garlic is a small family farm in Coburg, Oregon, growing six heirloom seed garlic varieties pesticide-free in the Willamette Valley.