If you have planted garlic for the first time this fall, go you, then you may have the same

question that Cindy posted in my Facebook group, the Beginners Garden Shortcut Facebook group.

And it's a question that I had my very first year planting garlic too, so you're not alone.

What happens if you plant your garlic in the fall, like you know is the best time to

plant, and it starts sprouting? Is that a bad sign? The good news is, no, it's not a bad

sign. But I do remember panicking my first year thinking, oh no, it's sprouted, I planted too

early, they're going to die in the winter and everything's gonna go to pot

right well let me just clarify that both Cindy and I are in zone 7b so no this is not a bad thing

for us in fact it's normal every year my garlic does sprout it sprouts in the fall after I plant

it and then when the daylight

starts getting shorter and the weather starts getting colder, the garlic shoots just sit there.

They don't keep growing. They're just kind of frozen in time. And then later in January,

usually, is when I start seeing the garlic resume its growth and start growing more and more stems.

That's completely normal.

And so, yeah, that's something that you probably don't have to be worried about.

In fact, most of the people that responded to Cindy agreed with her.

The only thing that I think might be an issue, and this is something I don't have personal experience with,

but I do remember seeing a YouTube video

of a Northern Gardner,

and I can't remember which one it was at this point,

but they were talking about how you really need

to mulch it really well so that it doesn't sprout.

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