Garlic is one of the most rewarding crops there is: it needs hardly any care, has almost no pests, and from a single clove you harvest a whole new bulb. The most important trick is as simple as it is surprising: do not plant it in spring, but as early as autumn.
For garlic is no spring affair. It needs a cold phase to divide into separate cloves at all. This article shows you why autumn is the right time, what to look for in the planting stock and how you get from clove to harvest.
Why plant in autumn?
The reason is called vernalisation. Garlic only forms a bulb nicely divided into cloves once it has lived through several weeks of cold below about ten degrees. Plant it in autumn and the winter does that by itself.
Planted in October, the clove forms roots and a short shoot before winter, then rests and gets going strongly in spring. The result is clearly larger bulbs than with spring planting. Whoever plants only in March often harvests just a single round, undivided bulb.
Planting garlic rather than supermarket
The most common disappointment begins with the planting stock. Supermarket garlic often comes from warmer countries, is not adapted to the local climate and can carry viruses. Take instead certified planting garlic from the nursery or healthy cloves from a good harvest of your own.
Roughly one distinguishes two groups that differ in winter hardiness, flavour and keeping quality.
Two types of garlic
- Hardneck garlic
The classic autumn garlic. Winter-hardy, strongly aromatic, forms a firm flower stalk. Large cloves, but usually a somewhat shorter storage life.
- Softneck garlic
Milder, without a firm stalk, with many smaller cloves. It keeps especially long and can even be braided into plaits. Autumn planting is possible too.
- Garlic scapes
The hardneck garlic sends up a curling flower stalk in June. If you cut it off, the plant puts more strength into the bulb, and the tender scape is a fine delicacy.
- Carrying on your own harvest
Each year keep the largest, healthiest bulbs as planting stock. That way, over the years, you raise a robust stock adapted to your garden.
How you plant garlic
Break the bulb into cloves
Only just before planting split the bulb into single cloves. Take only the large, firm outer cloves, the small inner ones go into the kitchen.
Plant in October
Set each clove with the tip up around five centimetres deep into loose, sunny soil, 15 centimetres apart in all directions.
Mulch and let it rest
A thin layer of mulch protects against hard frost and bare frost. Over winter the garlic needs nothing else.
Harvest in July
As soon as the lower leaves yellow and about half the foliage is brown, dig up on a dry day and let it dry off airily.
Planted in autumn, winter divides the bulb. Certified stock, tip up, and in July you harvest many times over.
The core rule for garlic
Frequently asked questions
When do you plant garlic?
Best in autumn, usually in October. The cloves need the cold stimulus of winter to divide into nice, large bulbs. Spring planting is possible but often brings only small, undivided bulbs.
Can I plant supermarket garlic?
Better not. Supermarket garlic often comes from warmer countries, is not adapted to the climate and can carry viruses. Take certified planting garlic from the nursery or healthy, large cloves from a good harvest of your own.
How deep and which way up do you plant the cloves?
With the tip up and the flat root side down, around five centimetres deep. Keep 15 centimetres apart in all directions. Cloves planted the wrong way up grow crooked and form smaller bulbs.
When is garlic ready to harvest?
The following July, as soon as the lower leaves yellow and about half the foliage is brown. If you wait too long, the bulb splits and keeps badly. Dig up on a dry day and let the bulbs dry off airily.
Do I have to cut off the garlic flower stalk?
With hardneck garlic yes, it pays off. Cut off the curled scape in June, then the plant puts its strength into the bulb instead of the flower. The scape itself is edible and tastes mildly garlicky.
