If you’ve ever scratched your head over how many pounds of seed garlic you need to buy to fill your garden bed, or started planting garlic only to come up short, this tool is for you.
My garlic planting calculator takes the size of your bed, preferred plant spacing, and garlic type, and gives you a neat summary of how many cloves you need, how many I recommend you actually buy, and how many garlic bulbs and pounds all of that equals. Just enter your values and the tool will instantly auto-calculate like magic!
Garlic planting calculator
Figure out how many cloves to plant, how many to order, and how much seed garlic to buy.
Enter a bed width and length greater than zero.
Garlic estimate
6-inch spacing calculation
Garlic spacing tips
Should you go with 6-inch spacing or 8-inch spacing? In most cases, 6 inches is usually enough for planting garlic. Very large bulbs (like the Music or Romanian Red varieties) do benefit from a little extra room to grow as large as possible, so I like to give 8 inches of spacing between them.
I also recommend 8-inch spacing if you live in a cooler, rainy, or humid climate, since garlic is prone to a fungal disease called garlic rust (where the leaves become infected with orange spots).
Why order extra?
Not every clove in a garlic bulb might be usable. Sometimes you end up with a few cloves that are too small to plant, or you accidentally damage a clove while separating the bulb. Ordering extra garlic ensures you don’t fall short, and I find that adding about 10 percent more gives me enough wiggle room.
Feel free to change the default amount, especially for Artichoke and Silverskin garlics that tend to have smaller cloves toward the center. You can always use the too-small cloves in the kitchen, or plant the extras elsewhere in your garden.
Where to find bulb weight
Bulb weight varies by garlic variety and bulb size, and you can usually find this in the garlic description on the order page. Some vendors sell a standard size across all varieties, while others offer jumbo, standard, and/or culinary (small) sizes.
In general:
- Hardneck garlic types produce larger bulbs with fewer cloves and average 4 to 8 bulbs per pound.
- Softneck garlic types have smaller bulbs with more cloves, averaging 8 to 14 bulbs per pound.
- Jumbo bulbs may yield only 3 to 5 per pound, while smaller bulbs may contain up to 18 per pound.
My garlic planting calculator defaults to 8 bulbs per pound, but you can change this according to what you have.
Disclosure: If you shop from my article or make a purchase through one of my links, I may receive commissions on some of the products I recommend.
Where to buy
Seed garlic is typically available for preorder in spring for shipping between August and October, depending on your growing zone. You can still buy seed garlic from summer to fall, but popular varieties tend to sell out early if you’ve got your eye on a particular one.
If you haven’t ordered seed garlic yet, read my guide on how to choose the right type of garlic for your garden. (Yes, it matters!)
Once you’re ready to plant, here’s how to grow garlic for maximum yield.
