You will not need a lot of help growing Garlic if you select UK Garlic bulbs that are appropriate for our climate. Buy from seed merchants rather than use the greengrocers supply which may be a tender overseas variety. Plant separate cloves in rich soil from now until January but sooner the better.

There are two main types of Garlic with either hard necks or soft necks both are fine with many varieties and flavours.

Help Growing Garlic

• Garlic should be planted in a sunny spot during October or November so that they form a good root system before winter.
• Garlic will stand at least 10 degrees of frost and needs cold weather to help it form cloves next year.
• Garlic needs plenty of phosphate for root growth before planting, a little nitrogen in March to develop the leaves and help it photosynthesise and plenty of potash to harden off.
• Break up the bulb into cloves and plant each one 1-2″ deep ‘nose up roots down’.
• Leave 5-6″ between each planted clove.
• When planting use the outer cloves with one rounded and one flat side from each head. The inner cloves, which are square or triangular should be used in the kitchen.
• The best crops will be produced on light well drained soil.

 

Help Gathering Garlic

• Water the plants regularly from spring. Stop watering a month before harvesting
• Gather the crop in June or July.
• The garlic with soft necks will bend over like an onion when raedy to be cropped. Hardnecked garlic should be picked when the leaves start to change colour.
• Snap off any flower spikes as soon as you see them. Eat them in stir fries as revenge for taking energy from your plants.
• Store Garlic in the dry. They are fine in platted ropes like the old French onion sellers.

Help Am I too Late to Plant Garlic

• You can plant Garlic in frost free soil until January.
• If you need to plant them later than January then, according to the National Vegetable Society, ‘the early root system can be enhanced by a form of chitting. Half fill a cardboard toilet roll tube with damp compost and set a clove on top. Stand the tubes indoors on capillary matting for a week or two, so that the roots start into growth. Once the roots emerge from the bottom plant the clove, tube and all, as soon as soil conditions permit.’

Help Selecting Garlic Varieties for the UK

1. Solent Wight – a heavy cropper with large cloves
2. Albigensian Wight – spring or autumn planting good keeper
3. Purple Wight a ‘hard neck’ best used fresh as it is a poor storer
4. Long Keeper large white bulbs to harvest in July from autumn planting.
5. Early Wightanother ‘hard neck variety’ with AGM in purple variety
6. Luatrec Wight fat pink cloves with white outer skin and a good keeper.
7. White Pearl autumn planted will store reasonalble well.
8. Pink Lady a pink skinned bulbs and gloves that can be eaten raw.
9. Germidore softneck variety that is well adapted to British conditions. Produces large, white bulbs with a mild but rich flavour.
10. Chesnok Red a hardneck variety from Georgia with attractive purple striping and a lovely, full-bodied flavour. Lovely choice for baking as it has a lovely creamy texture. Great for garlic bread!

Elephant Garlic would be in many best top ten lists but is closely related to the Leek side of the allium family see Gardeners tips

Note  Bulbs of various varieties are from available from Thompson & Morgan

Credit photo ‘Garlic, food, roadside market, farmer’s market, culinary, cooking’ by mullica, on Flickr