By the time November rolls around here in the North, our gardens have been cleared out, neatened up and prepped for a long winter rest. Something else you can do in preparation (or longing) for spring is to plant hardneck garlic bulbs before the ground freezes over. Hardneck garlic requires a "sleep" period of sorts after setting it's roots in order to be able to produce in the spring.
Plant your garlic in fertile soil by putting a few inches of compost or an organic granular fertilizer to the beds. Make sure your area has been fully tilled before mapping out your garlic rows. They'll need to be 2 feet apart.
Cut the necks off your garlic bulbs before breaking the outer skin to reveal the cloves inside.
Dig down 4-6 inches deep for each row.
Place your cloves flat end down, pointed tip up. The cloves should be planted 6 inches apart and at least 2 inches of soil above the clove.
Cover loosely with the soil you dug out to create the row.
Cover with some sort of mulch, like straw, grass clippings or chopped up leaves to prevent weeds, as garlic does not like competing with other growth.
Ta-da! You're done! It really is that simple, and you'll be able to harvest your garlic as soon as late July.
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First-time planting garlic