Growing Garlic

Allium sativum : Amaryllidaceae / the onion family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
                P P    

(Best months for growing Garlic in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Plant cloves

September: Garlic can overwinter. Cover with a good layer of mulch . In areas where frost persists into March/ April, expect to harvest your garlic in June/July.

October: Garlic can overwinter. Cover with a good layer of mulch . In areas where frost persists into March/ April, expect to harvest your garlic in June/July.

  • Easy to grow. Plant cloves. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 4 - 5 inches apart
  • Harvest in 17-25 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Dill, Tomatoes, Parsnips
  • Avoid growing close to: Asparagus, Beans, Brassicas, Peas, Potatoes

Your comments and tips

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13 Feb 12, Wade (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi all, just suggesting that planting times be shuffled back to start planting mid march thru to mid june, at the latest! Ive found that most garlic really like a bit of warmth and size before winter sets in...
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02 Feb 12, Prue (Australia - temperate climate)
This year I let a couple of garlic go to seed and flower, so now I have thousands of tiny garlic cloves/seeds, should I plant them in the ground now as that is when they would of naturally fallen or wait till April? I'm in Melbourne if that helps answer my question
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22 Jun 12, Michael Ouellette (Australia - temperate climate)
You can plant them as an experiment but you are better off planting the cloves from mature garlic. I also live in Melbourne and have been growing my own garlic for three years with success. I plant about 2- 300 cloves for our own usage yearly. PS: and loving it...
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31 Jan 12, (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
I have planted garlic bulbs last year and nothing happened. Thought it all died off, but in the last week or so.... it's been soooo hot here and I now have garlic growing in my pots. Must be from last year's bulbs that didnt work. Not sure why they are sprouting at this time of year, especially in this heat when I thought they were a winter vege. Any comments would be good.
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02 Apr 12, David (Australia - temperate climate)
it is possible that you bought mexican or some other countrys garlic which is 6 monthes different to ours hence the garlic coming up now
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16 Mar 12, Pranav (Australia - temperate climate)
Jennifer,Buy cloves, glriac is a bulb plant not a seed plant, although the cloves are used as the seed' (confused yet?). :-)In this case the term seed' has a general meaning in so far as anything that can be sown i.e. seed potatoes, seeds of corn or sunflower seeds . In the case of sunflower and corn seeds , what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or hull, and the potato is a tuber and one can propogate them by planting small pieces of a spud that has grown an eye'.For best results, plant in the fall for next summers crop and because it is a bulb, think drainage.Hope that helps
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01 Jan 12, Vanessa (Australia - temperate climate)
I live on the Murray River at a town called Tooleybuc. 2011 I planted heaps of cloves. They all sprouted!! I planted my garlic in March/early April. I left them until November and dug some up, only to find rather small bulbs. Left the rest for another month and the bulbs had not really grown much larger. The cloves were fresh Australian grown garlic. Did I overwater them? Is it possible to overwater. The guy I obtained my bulbs from, planted his crop in Feb and harvested in Nov. HELP!! What am I doing wrong?? Please. Any advice would be appreciated. Vanessa
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12 Mar 12, Matthew (Australia - temperate climate)
I would say nutrition is the key! Garlic need a reasonable amount of fertiliser to form well. You should be able to google a fertiliser program, but a broad spectrum NPK+trace applied at planting and then more nitrogen over time will help.
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22 Nov 11, Chandra Akhil (Australia - temperate climate)
Hello Barb Burnet ! When you are ready to sell your Golden Australian Garlic seeds please let me know I will be interested to buy some. My email contact is [email protected] Looking forward to hear from you. Regards Chandra Akhil.
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22 Nov 11, Chandra Akhil (Australia - temperate climate)
I just want to make a comment on Brianna Dall's comment dated 22 Aug. 11. where she said that "the import stuff has been treated to not germinate". With all due respect to Brianna that is not so. I have used the "import stuff" on numerous ocassion in my garden and it has germinated well.
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This is a transcript of a article on growing garlic in central Australia (desert). It is on ABC Rural News and may be a help to you. Trials reveal potential for garlic-growing in Northern Territory Posted 7 Oct 2016 MAP: Alice Springs 0870 A trial exploring the capabilities of seven garlic varieties in the red centre is showing some early positive results. Seven varieties of garlic are being trialled at the Northern Territory's Arid Zone Research Institute (AZRI), alongside the standard industry garlic variety, Glen Large. The Alice Springs environment will demonstrate how varieties that have never been grown commercially in the Northern Territory respond to extreme cold and extreme heat. Central Australian Horticulture Development Project manager and researcher Stuart Smith said despite challenges such as poor water quality, the results so far had been positive. "We're hoping, because we're just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, we're just a bit a little subtropical, that we're in the right area," he said. "We've got the right heat profile, right day length and we're able to grow some good bulbs. "If it'll grow here, it'll grow anywhere. "Central Australia is a bit isolated from the rest of Australia so it doesn't have the pests and diseases of the other garlic-growing areas." Plan to get garlic onto market early in season Mr Smith believes there is a market opportunity for garlic that grows early in the traditional growing season. We thought we could get a few varieties to come early on the market, so we can get some good prices for them and replace the imported garlic," he said. The first successful harvested trial crop has reached a stage of maturity that would be ready for market. "It's got a code name called AF. We're getting some good-sized bulbs out of this," Mr Smith said. "I estimate we're getting 6-8 tonnes per hectare." The DPI's Stuart Smith and agriculture minister Ken Vowles stand in a field of garlic PHOTO: Stuart Smith and Primary Industries Minister Ken Vowles discuss the garlic crop trial near Alice Springs. (ABC Rural: Katrina Beaven) Mr Smith said the early trial results were encouraging despite poor water quality and salty soils. "We have to keep watering them pretty constantly to keep moving the salt out of the root zone," he said. "The water we're using at AZRI is pretty low quality. "Most of the water other people are using in horticulture around the Central Australian region is a lot better quality than this." Mr Smith said the research results would also add value to what was being learned by a grower at Orange Creek Station, south of Alice Springs, who is conducting a commercial garlic trial this year.

- John

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This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
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