Growing garlic

 Garlic is one of the easier crops to grow.  To get the best chance of getting a good crop it needs to be planted in autumn, October or November, so that it gets a period of coldness.  It can be planted until February but a good crop is less likely.

Site and soil: well worked and fertile soil, sunny open position

How to plant: break the bulb into separate cloves and plant them 'as deep as you like and as early as you like' as I was advised many years ago when I first grew garlic.  Some people plant it with the top near the soil surface, as you do for onion sets, but I always planted mine deeper 2 -5 cm below the surface.

Cultivation: weed when necessary. Garlic is prone to rust (a fungal infection of the leaves) but ignore it as it does not harm the bulbs. If a flower starts to develop, pinch it out.

Harvest: when the tops dry and shrivel in summer, lift the garlic and let it dry in the sun before storing it in a dry place.




These photos show elephant garlic, which looks like ordinary garlic but is much bigger.  It's planted and cultivated in the same way, although I'd recommend planting it deeper.  Sometimes a solid bulb develops:


Plant it in the usual way and it develops in the usual way - I'm trying this out with with the bulb in the photo.

I won second prize in the Show with three of the bulbs in the top photo. It's worth having a go and entering even if you think your entry isn't perfect.  Ideally the the bulbs be as alike as possible: mine weren't uniform but I still won a price.



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