Guide to Growing Garlic

• A member of the onion (allium) family.
• Easy to grow, but don't plant garlic cloves from the supermarket as they are likely to be a variety bred for warmer climates. See Varieties below.
• Apart from being started off in pots, garlic can be grown singly in 20 cm (8 inch) pots, but its really not worth it. However, it will cope with being grown in a border if you have space.

Sowing and Growing

• Garlic needs a long growing season and should generally be started in November. However, there are some varieties bred to crop from an early spring sowing, or read about starting garlic off in pots.
• It likes a sunny spot but preferably not in soil that was manured in the preceding year. A week or so before planting, give the soil a dose of a general-purpose fertiliser like Growmore or fish, blood and bone, which is slower to release.
• Dib holes 20 cm (8 inches) apart each way, 8 cm (3 inches) deep. Carefully break up the bulb into cloves and drop a clove into each hole, flat end down. Fill the hole with soil or some fine multi-purpose compost.
• If your soil is heavy and water-logged, make the planting holes a little deeper and drop grit and sand into the base to aid drainage. Or, try staring the garlic cloves in 8 cm (3 inch) pots in November in a cold frame, and plant out in spring once the leaves have appeared.
• Keep weed free and give them another dose of fertiliser in the spring. You need do nothing else except water if the weather is dry.
• If the plants show a flower spike, snip it off otherwise the plants put their energy into the flower and seed rather than the cloves.

Harvesting

• The bulbs are ready to harvest once the leaves turn yellow in mid-summer.
• Dig them up carefully with a fork.
• Dry off for a week or so before storing although the bulbs may be used immediately – freshly harvested garlic is known as wet garlic and is prized by chefs.

Pests and Problems

• Birds can sometimes pull the garlic out of the ground when the shoots appear. If this is a problem, cover the plants with netting or fleece until they are established.
• If you have a heavy clay soil, water logging will rot your garlic. Put some grit and sand into the base of the planting holes, before sowing the cloves.
• Rust can be an issue if the plants are too close together or in a shady spot.

Varieties

• Buy garlic bred to grow in our British climate, from a reputable supplier. There is a wide range of varieties. Cloves from a supermarket bulb will have been bred for warmer climates and will not be reliable.
• You can grow from your own saved homegrown garlic. Select the best bulbs and user larger cloves.
• Elephant garlic is actually a perennial leek and has a milder flavour. It does not store well.
• There are two types: hard neck and soft neck. Hard-necked varieites do not store as well as the soft-necked varieties, which can be platted into strings for storage. Some people prefer the flavour of the hard-necked varieties.
• Solent Wight is a soft neck variety with a fine flavour. Early Purple Wight has the RHS Award of Garden Merit.
• Some varieties should be planted in November whereas others will produce satisfactory results from an early-spring planting.

Eating

• The flavour of wet garlic is mild compared to dried garlic. Roasted wet garlic is a delicious side dish.
• If your plants throw up a flower head, chop them up small and use in a salad to give a garlic tang.