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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17 May 11, arthur (Australia - temperate climate)
If you want to grow imported garlic purchased from a super market pick out a nice bulb feel around the cloves near the to top, if there is a slight swelling thats the one you want to buy.Get a small con.that will hold water 5mil deep quarter teaspoon thrive or seasol.leave for about three days.plant out 50mil deep.after 2 weeks my plants are now 80 ml high.
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24 May 11, Phe (Australia - temperate climate)
Thanks, I'm going to try this.
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10 May 11, Adam (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
One other company for great Garlic is garlicworld.com. They are based in Port Campbell in Victoria, Simon and his wife.I got some lovely Californis purple from them. Not sure if they'd have any left now. A couple of years ago, I got some Purple garlic which came from Chile. I really don't like to buy out of area stuff, but I figured it would be a one off, and haven't bought much since, except for the garlicworld stuff. Melanie, the garlic is ready when the top wilts and leans over, as Jen has said. Sometimes, the plant goes into flowering mode, but usually not, usually it just falls over. The stem that falls is the bit you use to tie it up with, so if you let it die too much, you won't get the protective outer skin, or something to plait it with. I tend to wait until it looks a bit ratty, but hasn't died completely, about a week or so after it keels over. Then I dig it up, don't pull it from the stem, I learned that lesson the first year.!! Hope this helps.
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02 May 11, Jen (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Hi melanie, Garlic is usally ready to harvest when the stalks brown off and lean over. If you are desperate for some fresh garlic you can harvest a bulb earlier but must put up with the bulb being smaler.... good luck ..it gets easier with every year
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25 Apr 11, Tony (Australia - temperate climate)
Just wondering what fertilizer i should use for the garlic after planting Kind regards Tony
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20 Apr 11, Bill (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Another source of organic garlic is Kookaburra Organics(google the name). They are based on the Sunshine Coast (Maleny/Conondale) in Queensland. We've just bought some from them for planting for the first time. They seemed very knowledgeable and definately very helpful.
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19 Apr 11, Garry (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I have been growing my own Garlic for years..i got the first bulb from woollies..since then never had to buy any.
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10 Apr 11, Melanie (Australia - temperate climate)
I've seen varying information on when to harvest garlic - some say let it flower, other advice says not to let it flower. Does anyone know which is correct?
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14 Apr 11, elfrieda (Australia - tropical climate)
i have heard that is best to harvest after the flowering when the stem dries up, similar to onions.
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05 Apr 11, Ian (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, you can purchase your seeds through the Diggers Club or Eden seeds. Details for both and other places to find seeds can be located through a search engine such as google. Good luck!
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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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