Nothing could be simpler than growing your own garlic. Autumn is the ideal time to plant it, so come on, give it a go, it's probably the easiest thing you'll ever grow!
Grow Your Own Garlic
Why grow your own garlic?
Garlic is said to have many health benefits. It is thought to be good for the heart and circulation. It is widely used as a key ingredient in many recipes around the world.
Garlic is often used to add flavour to food by finely chopping it and adding it during cooking, or by cooking whole cloves alongside meat or vegetables. The cloves can also be eaten whole themselves. They taste milder when cooked whole.
Growing your own garlic is very economical. A couple of bulbs cost only a few pounds and will provide enough cloves to fill the two rows of 3 metres each on my allotment. This produces enough garlic to supply my household for a whole year!
Can I plant the garlic I bought in the supermarket?
You could, but it is unlikely to grow well in the UK. The garlic available to buy are usually different varieties that are unlikely to do well here. They are probably also stored and treated in a different way for the mass market which could affect how they grow in your garden.
I'm growing a variety called Germidour. I'm actually using two bulbs from this years crop, so I haven't even had to buy any and so my garlic is costing absolutely nothing this year!
In past years I've also grown varieties called Cristo, Casablanca and Marco, all of which have grown pretty well for me here in South Wales.
Where to plant garlic
Garlic can be grown in the ground, or in containers. The ideal position is somewhere sunny with well drained soil. Good drainage will help make sure that the cloves won't rot when left in the ground over winter.
I prepared a patch by weeding it and raking it several times to loosen up the top layer of soil. Apart from anything else, this makes it easier to dig holes to plant into, but it should also make it easier for the plants to establish a solid root system too.
When to plant garlic
Garlic can be planted in either spring or autumn, but the important thing to know is that to develop properly into cloves rather than a single bulb, it requires a period of cold weather, where temperatures are low for a couple of weeks.
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| Two garlic bulbs is enough to supply my family for a year |
It is possible to plant garlic in early spring and still achieve this, depending on where in the world you are, but I always plant in October, as where I live this pretty much guarantees a cold spell at some point before the following March.
Garlic planted in autumn should also be ready earlier the following summer.
Garlic is hardy so can be left alone all winter. It will survive frosts, and any ice and snow before getting growing in spring when warmer weather arrives.
How to plant garlic
Unlike other plants that arrive as bulbs, garlic is not planted as a whole bulb. Each bulb should be broken up into separate cloves. It can just be pulled apart by hand.
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| Break your garlic bulbs into separate cloves |
For each clove, I dig a small hole about 3cm (1 inch) deep, so that the tip of the clove is just below the surface of the ground. I plant them about 10cm (4 inches) apart to give them enough room to grow.
The bigger the clove the bigger the bulb that will grow from it, so I plant the largest first. If I run out of space, I'll be discarding the smallest ones.
I insert the clove pointy end up, with the roots at the bottom. You can see the roots emerging from the flat basal plate at one end of the clove.
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| Plant cloves pointy end up, with the flat basal plate where the roots grow from at the bottom |
Once the cloves are planted, I cover them over with the earth and that's almost all there is to it!
How to look after garlic after planting
Garlic is easy to look after, it doesn't need much doing to it after planting. It's a good idea to keep them watered for a while after planting to help them get started, but after that they are pretty drought tolerant.
Remove weeds from around them so there is no competition for them.
Squirrels may dig up cloves, and birds will sometimes pull up fresh shoots out of the ground when they appear, so it's worth protecting them with some netting at first. I use an old sofa bed frame and the remains of an old mini greenhouse frame to support my netting!
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| Cover with netting to protect from birds |
You can read about my low cost method of netting my crops here:
Related: Recycle to protect your allotment crops or garden fruit and veg
Protected like this, there's little you need to do to garlic until they are ready to be harvested. Just water if there is a really dry spell, and keep weeding, but they don't need much extra water, and don't need feeding.
Related: Harvesting Garlic on The 80 Minute Allotment
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| My most recent garlic harvest |
Garlic encapsulates everything that's good about growing your own.
It's really easy to do, a low maintenance crop that you can more or less just bung in the ground and leave until it's ready. Anyone can try it, whether in an allotment, a garden or containers. You don't need much space, time or money, and the end result will be fresher and tastier than you can buy in your local supermarket.
Go out and get some garlic bulbs today!
Happy planting,
Paul
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