How to grow Garlic
in the UK

Garlic, an Allium, is one of the easiest and most rewarding things you can grow on your plot, to be honest. There's nothing quite like pulling up your own bulbs; it's proper satisfying, you know.

Sowing

The trick with garlic is getting it in the ground at the right time. You want to be sowing individual cloves outdoors in October or November for the best results, as it needs a good cold period over winter to properly divide into decent bulbs. Just split a bulb into individual cloves, plant them about 2.5 centimetres deep, root-end down and pointed end up, like. Give each clove about 15 centimetres of space, with your rows roughly 30 centimetres apart. No need for plug plants with this one, straight into the soil is the way, and you're looking at about 210 days until you're pulling them up in summer.

Growing on

Once those little shoots start to poke through, the main job is just keeping the area around them clear. Garlic isn't a fan of competition, so make sure to keep on top of the weeds on your plot, especially when they're young. You can grow it in containers too, but make sure they're big enough for the bulbs to swell, you know, it needs a bit of room.

Looking after it

Garlic generally looks after itself, but a bit of care goes a long way. In dry spells, especially as the bulbs start to swell, give them a good drink. A little feed of general purpose fertiliser in early spring helps too, just to give them a boost. Other than that, just keep those weeds at bay and they'll be chuffed.

What goes wrong

Like most Alliums, garlic can sometimes suffer from onion white rot, which is a proper pain, to be honest. Make sure you rotate your crops each year to avoid building it up in the soil. Rust can also pop up, showing as orange spots on the leaves, especially in damp conditions. Good air circulation helps, so don't plant them too close. Young shoots might get nibbled by slugs too, so keep an eye out.

Harvest

Your garlic's ready to harvest around June or July when the leaves start to yellow and flop over. Don't leave it too long, mind, or the bulbs can split. Carefully lift them out of the soil with a fork, then let them dry properly in a cool, airy place for a couple of weeks. Once dry, you can plait the softneck varieties and store them somewhere cool and dry. Softnecks, like I say, generally store the longest, which is cracking.