Fall is the best time to plant garlic, The Old Farmer’s Almanac says. Prepare the soil for garlic by tilling thoroughly and adding compost or manure. Plant individual cloves from a head of garlic with the point end up 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart, and mulch the bed with straw or leaves. Like onions and leeks, garlic will mature around the summer solstice, sending up a curled, edible flower stalk known as a scape. Harvest garlic about six weeks later, when its above-ground leaves turn brown. Hang the plants in a shady spot to dry for about a month before cleaning and storing the bulbs.