Growing Garlic Bulbs in Florida (Some Say It Can’t Be Done)

Many Florida gardeners & farmers have failed at successfully growing bulbed garlic heads. There is undoubtedly an appropriate climate for garlic, which prefers extended low temperatures - so here in this clip, our new friend Rob Greenfield gives us some insight on his vernalization method of refrigerating the seed bulbs in his refrigerator to simulate the weeks of brisk weather needed to reach its full vitality.

We mention that we learned about Rob’s garlic success & trials through the Tampa Bay Plant Swap group. If you wanted to learn more about the garlic trials in Floria, check it out here -

If you missed the previous 2 Part Series with Rob Greenfield:

As a ‘beginner” gardener, Rob Greenfield has challenged himself to grow & forage 100% of his food without his own land and without any previous experience of growing food. If that’s not impressive enough, Rob Greenfield is also living in a 100 sq ft. A tiny home with minimal storage, growing his daily needs in other people’s front yards & gleaning from the fruit trees he planted around Orlando in the short amount of time he has been there. He does this for a big reason - to inspire the rest of us to put a bit more effort into self-resiliency, community interaction & eco-literacy.

You can learn specifically about this project "Food Freedom- A Year of Growing and Foraging 100% of My Food."

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[erinisme]

me: oh its garlic... better put that in the pot with the rest of--
that guy: *BITES IT VICIOUSLY* yeah it's garlic.
respect.

[organiccraftworks]

People who love Garlic Rock. Thank you sir. Great job.

[michaelerbs]

I think you need to do more Florida specific gardening and tips!! keep visiting rob for tips maybe??

[OldSchoolPrepper]

those little garlics at the base of the elephant garlic is called a Corm. You can plant them and next year you'll get a single really large "round" which you can eat, or if you wait and plant it again it will become an elephant garlic head. Elephant garlic is actually a lilly which is why it grows better in warmer climates.

[ooohlaa]

ROB is a total doll! I am in North Central FL and have grown garlic for years, always chastising myself because the heads were small-ish, had no idea it wasn't that easy for Florida gardeners. I never purchased seed garlic, used only what I bought from Florida organic produce and it always worked fine. Only one year did I get scapes, I think that is more of a cold climate variety??? Anyway I am about to harvest 85 more stalks, I already did 30 and they varied from a few single onion looking thingies (planted late) and nice full smallish heads that I waited too long to harvest, so the cloves are separating. Thanks SO much, visiting your blog Rob, right now!

[desireerivera]

Thank you sooo much for sharing this!!! I used to live in Florida, now moved to Sarasota area and still optimistic to trying to grow some garlic!

[CristalMermaid]

I live in central Florida and growing garlic too. I vernalized for 3 months before planting, I also bought from Forever Young farm and got solid bulbs from Red Toch and Shilla varieties. I made garlic pesto with the whole garlic plants that didn’t bulb. I saved the biggest bulbs for planting this fall. Another tip is to plant in fall in full sun and fertilize once a month.

[rubbernecker]

Cool. I'm in north east Texas and started putting my garlic in the fridge to vernalize about 5 weeks and it does make a huge difference. The baby cloves on the outside of the bulb are corms. If you replant them, they grow the same way as the bulbils off the top in that they produce a round, like an onion with no cloves the first year and then bulb out into cloves the second year.

[debrabershak]

I like to ferment garlic cloves. Delicious with an extra punch of nutrition and they last a long time in the fridge.

[geraldfranz]

That's why my garlic never grew, da-uh, and Rob just figures it out. While I just keep doing basically the same old thing, just in different parts of the yard. Rob my hat is off to you brother, you are a mover and a shaker & an outside the box kinda guy, bro.👍😎👍
Good eye brother Pete, you da man !!! 👊

[kingdommusic]

here in florida also, you actually did good, garlic grown here likes shade only some morning, a smidge of noon and some long ray evening sun, northeast corner, with soil that doesnt get too hot, filtered sun under some tree open area, had a whole bunch also fairly big too, plant begin nov

[joycejudd]

well done!  Being raised in S Florida, our growing season is almost reversed from the more northern states.  However, I'm now living in S Carolina (the Upstate area), and I too plant my garlic in October, harvest in June.  My first 'crop' was garlic from the grocery store.  Just separated the cloves, put them in the ground and harvested 8 months later.  I was quite pleased with that harvest!  I have my 3rd crop in the ground waiting for June to harvest.  I didn't realize the greens were useful, so thank you for that!  I dry a fair amount of items, and so will be drying the greens this time as well.  I'm loving Rob's "year of growing my food" videos.  Thank you!

[sanjuansteve]

Nice! I love garlic! I live in tropical Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico and I've been growing garlic both in my indoor vertical garden and on my balcony too. I haven't been able to get them to produce bulbs yet, but I love continuously harvesting the (underrated) greens anyway so 'no problemo'. :D

[StacySelah]

Thanks for all your content! This is just what we all need in these times! Shalom from P.C. Florida 🕊

[strawberryquartz]

Bro spread the word ( please and thank you) to rob that those small independent bulbs slash cloves are referred to as bulbils basically small bulbs which can act as seed though in actuality its a form of vegetative cloneing but the positive thing is planting the bulbils produces a rejuvenated seed stock which is great to bring about every so often however it is a 2 year process or multiple step process as one will notice the pitiful size of the resulting bulbs grown from the bulbils which is why next planting time for garlic pop those pitiful sized bulbs into the soil to grow another season gaining size so yes after 2 season you shall see full sized garlic ( if grown properly an momma nature doesn't prevent it )

[marilattimore]

Omg I’m in Orlando Florida and have started my garden and I want garlic so bad I thought it couldn’t be done! Wow thanks!

[manjawarner]

Some of my favorite ways to preserve garlic are to mince and mix with a bit of preferred oil, then freeze in ice cube trays and transfer to baggies. I do some in olive oil and some in coconut oil for different cuisines. I also love to make black garlic in my old rice cooker. It's shelf stable, so doesn't need refrigeration. Tastes like candy. Chewy goodness. 😋

[heidiw]

I grew garlic this year and it did better than I expected. I live north of Brooksville. It is my understanding in Florida we should grow soft neck garlic. I ordered some from Baker Creek and also planted some unknown variety from the grocery store.

[godsamazing]

Thanks so much! I live here in Central Florida. This was much needed! ⚘️

[npeace]

I'm in Tarpon Springs area and was given too much garlic so I put some in pots and in the ground and they are actually growing well! Excited to see how they turn out.