How to grow Garlic

Interested in growing your own Garlic? This guide provides tips on sun requirements, when to plant, feeding, and more.

Plant Garlic in rich, well draining soil with plenty of compost mixed in. 

Garlic requires a sunny, sheltered position.

Yes, Garlic is frost tolerant. 

Plant Garlic cloves roughly 15cm apart and 2-3 inches deep.

Garlic is a cool season crop that is usually planted in autumn, depending on your climate.

Plant cloves pointy side up. 

Apply an organic liquid fertiliser throughout the season and mulch the soil well.  

Harvest Garlic bulbs when at least half of the leaves have died off. The leaves will start dying off starting from the bottom up of the plant and working their way up. Garlic Scapes can also be harvested as they appear (see notes).  

If you would like to check the progress of the garlic bulb, you may gently move some soil away until the bulb is visible. Move the soil back into place afterwards. 

It is recommended to stop watering your garlic a couple of weeks before harvesting. This helps to prevent rot and also makes harvesting easier.

When harvesting, it's best not to pull up the garlic, but rather gently dig/lift them out of the soil using a garden fork or spade.  

Pests that affect Garlic include: Black Onion Aphids, Mites, Leaf Miners, Onion Maggot, Thrips, Lesion Nematode.

Diseases that affect Garlic include: Rust, Fusarium Root Rot, Downy Mildew, Purple Blotch, White Rot, Mosaic Virus.

Garlic varieties are classified into two groups. Hardneck and Softneck. 

Hardneck varieties produce Garlic Scapes- an edible, central stalk that can be used in stir-fries, pesto and many other dishes. 

Garlic Scapes look like curly stems growing from the top of the garlic plant. If left to mature, the Scape will form a seed bulb. It's important to trim off Garlic Scapes when they are young in order for the plant to focus its energy on producing a Garlic bulb, rather than a seed head.

Protect Garlic from strong winds as Garlic stems may tip over and snap.