Growing garlic gives you the tastiest and healthiest product for use in the kitchen. In most areas of Australia, it is easy to grow in a good soil in a sunny position.
Garlic does like a cold winter. If you know when to plant and when to harvest garlic is easy to grow.
Questions we are asked about how to grow garlic are :
- How do you grow garlic from cloves ?
- When do I plant garlic ?
- How deep do I plant garlic ?
- Can you grow garlic in pots?
- What sort of soil does garlic prefer.?
- Can I grow garlic from the store, or supermarket?
Answers to these six common garlic growing questions are :
- How to grow garlic from cloves.
Divide the bulb into individual cloves and plant, as described in detail below.
Make sure you keep as much of the base of the clove as possible. - When do I plant garlic
Any time after the start of Autumn, Early winter is good. - How deep to plant the garlic cloves.
Plant individual cloves around 4 – 5cm deep, pointy end up.
This is assuming that you have dug the soil over well. The soil will sink down around the clove a little when you water it in. - Growing garlic in containers. – See the Video below.
Use a container that is around 25cm deep.
Make sure it has good drainage holes.
Use a good quality potting mix.
Plant cloves around 10cm apart
Make sure the pot does not dry out over winter. - Soil for Garlic.
Garlic prefers a soil that is light, lots of organic matter and is ‘sweet’. Also well drained.
Dig in some well rotted manure around 6 weeks before planting.
Add some lime to the soil about 2 weeks before planting. – However it is very tolerant of soil types. - Store bought garlic, will it grow.
Yes, unless it has been treated by growth inhibitors. So forget SOME of the imported stuff. The rest should grow.
Try some from the local farmers market instead….
More about growing garlic.
Garlic is a plant that grows well in areas with a cold winter and a warm to hot summer.
In Australia garlic grows well in large areas of temperate southern Australia. The cold winters seem to be a major factor in growing garlic with good flavour.
In terms of soil and sun, a well drained soil and a sunny position is best. This a crop that takes a good 6 months to grow and produce those large firm bulbs with great taste. Garlic does not require fertilisers to push it along, and although it will grow in warmer climates the flavour will not be as intense.
It is the ideal crop for organic gardening enthusiasts, if you are considering growing your own garlic you will find it is one of the easiest plants to grow in the home garden.
You can grow it in the vegetable garden, put a few plants in the ornamental garden, grow it in a container or a raised
Bulbs are available for sale online from late summer to autumn and you need to be quick if you wish to order some of the rarer garlic varieties available for sale.
Garlic from organic bulbs (above) are suitable for dividing into individual cloves for planting
Individual cloves are easily separated, planted (pointy end up)
What is Organic Garlic ?
Growing organic garlic bulbs is achieved by buying certified organic garlic and then by planting garlic in autumn. Planting Garlic bulbs in a well dug soil with a little added lime dug in 4 weeks before planting is probably the best way to produce a good crop of garlic for home use.
Given a warm sunny position garlic is easy to grow. Cloves that have not been treated can be saved and planted in the garden and these can be obtained from online suppliers or from organic suppliers. Remember that garlic plants will grow to be 2/3m and more tall.
How to Grow Garlic – Summary Information
- Garlic is best planted in Autumn.
- The colder the winter the stronger the garlic.
- Try an established garden bed that had manure and compost added the previous year.
- Dig in a little lime 4 weeks before planting.
- Try a well cultivated soil to allow the garlic plant roots to go deep, a sunny position.
- Plant garlic cloves 4 – 5 cm deep, 10 – 15cm apart.
- Mulch around the stems to keep the soil moist.
- Water garlic plants in drier months up until December or when the first leaves start to change color.
- Harvest when the bottom half of the leaves turn brown, but the top half are still green.
- The colder the winter the stronger the garlic.
Weed prevention in the garlic patch ?
Look for a product called ‘Weed Gunnel’, it is a water and air permeable weed matt that is also degradable and is suited to organic growing methods.
How and when to Harvest Garlic.
Knowing when to harvest Garlic is as important for best taste and bulb size as knowing how to grow garlic. It also assists with long term storage.
Curing garlic is basically drying it, so the outer skin is dry and firm. This will help with storing and making the garlic last longer.
Harvest time is usually early summer, the exact time is determined by the weather. You can tell the right time by watch the colour of the foliage change.
Hardneck garlic is harvested when the bottom sets of foliage begin to dry. This is when the garlic bulbs will be fully formed and will not have started to come apart in the ground.
Harvesting Garlic
When is Garlic ready to harvest?
Two ways to tell
- Firstly the leaves will begin to turn brown
- Secondly, scrape away the soil, the ribs in the bulb should be defined and the bulb should feel large.
We harvest in the late morning to afternoon.
- In loose soil the garlic can be easily pulled out, if it does not pull out easily, use a garden fork to lift it.
- Be careful not to bruise or damage the bulb.
- Gently remove some of the soil, being careful not to damage the skin.
Curing Garlic
- Garlic should be immediately hung up in a shaded position with good airflow. Tie the tops of the stems together in bunches of 5 or 6. Then hang them in a shaded cool dry place. Bunches of 5 or 6 allow for better air flow.
- They hang for around 4 -8 weeks and then they are ready to store.
- Generally the skin should be papery and dry and all of the foliage should be brown. The roots should also be dry.
Cleaning Garlic
- For hardback types – Brush the soil off the roots and snip them off with secateurs, leaving just very short roots.
- Cut the stems off at around 1 inch (2 – 3 cm) above the bulb.
- Any damaged bulbs should be set aside fro early use.
- The soft neck varieties also have the roots and stems cut off and they can be stored the same way, or have the stems left on and you can braid them.
Storing Garlic
We store the cleaned bulbs in mesh bags beneath the house, a cool position with good air flow. A basement or pantry will also be suitable
Storage time will differ depending on variety, some store for longer than others. The cooler the storage position the longer the bulbs will last. Try for a temperature of 15 – 18°C (60 – 65°F). If you store in very cold temperatures, the bulbs will store for longer, however they will sprout quickly when brought into room temperature.
Some of the best long keeping garlic varieties are the Creole types, ‘Rojo de Castro’ also known as ‘Red Rocambole’. Ajo Rojo and Creole red being three. These are ‘top setting types’ the cloves are smaller than others, however the taste is excellent and the bulbs will last a year in storage
And do not store garlic in the refrigerator, it will think its winter and start to grow.
It is important to set aside the largest bulbs for next years crop, larger individual cloves will produce larger bulbs the the next season than smaller ones.
Check the bulbs regularly for sprouting and any signs of softening or decay.
Growing bigger garlic bulbs
Every one would like to know how to grow bigger garlic bulbs, and depending on the variety you can help them along by cutting the scapes off at the right time.
The scapes that appear on garlic are the beginnings of the flower head, and removing them has a few benefits.
Now this applies to hardneck garlics, and they will send up the scape and it will make a loop
When garlic is growing you will find that a few months before it would normally mature that it begins to send up a flower stem, this is called the scape.
We cut the scape because this will help increase the bulb size, and they are also edible. The time to cut them is when they are formed and just as they are starting to curl upwards.
Don’t remove any foliage, just cut the scape stem as far back as you can without removing the leaves.
As for timing, this will vary according to the season, your locality and the aspect, scapes will also form at different times on plants in the same patch, so visit every week or so.