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 New Zealand - cool/mountain regions)

  • P = Plant cloves
  • Easy to grow. Plant cloves. Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 35°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 10 - 12 cm 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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21 Aug 17, Mike (Australia - temperate climate)
From the notes on this page. "Garlic is traditionally planted in cold weather and harvest in summer ("plant on the shortest day, harvest on the longest"). Try Tooley Garlic. Google it.
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18 Aug 17, Bec (Australia - arid climate)
Just wondering how often I should water my garlic and how do I know when to harvest? They were planted about 4 days ago and I'm in Perth, Western Australia. Thanks!
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21 Aug 17, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Read earlier post today re planting. You need good draining soil. Too wet and it will rot and too dry and will die. I would say you have sandy soil. Try a little water each day. Sandy soil water more regularly than good soil. Bit of trial and error. Google about growing it.
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17 Jul 17, Soola Thoo (South Africa - Semi-arid climate)
Can I put garlic gloves into soil in July/august and still be able to get harvest?
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15 Jul 17, Barbara (Australia - temperate climate)
Just wondering if I cut off the green tops for stir fry as suggested it does not hurt the bulbs growing?
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03 Aug 17, Bev (Australia - cool/mountain climate)
Your bulb depends on the sugars developed by the leaves - so if you cut the greens to eat you are compromising the bulb. The bulb will still form when its ready, but it will be smaller
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17 Jul 17, Mike (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Maybe try shallots - easy to grow and can grow most of the year.
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15 Jul 17, mick (Australia - temperate climate)
Never had any success growing garlic from supermarket stock despite the shoots being green signalling it's time to plant. I bought 2 rather expensive bulbs and planted out 6 weeks ago. The plants seem to be powering on but I'll see what they look like in December/January. Really hopeful they will work as we consume a lot of garlic...which Woolies and Coles are now selling for $25/kg. Any suggestions as to fertiliser applications, or not, during the growth cycle?
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13 Aug 18, Michael (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi Mick I have read that Australian garlic, especially supermarket stock , is almost always infected with fusarium root rot. I will next year try to overcome this by washing the cloves with either bleach or hydrogen peroxide (cant remember the protocol). Surprisingly the south american garlic did not show the same problem and grew too well with a very good root system, but sent shoots up from the developing cloves and matured very early (4 months)
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09 Jul 17, Kerry smith (Australia - temperate climate)
My Galic I planted started to shoot but then it died back. I though that the bulbs had rotted. When I went to dig them up last week they all have roots and small green shoots that have not pushed through the surface yet. I planted then at the end of may beginning of June and have covered then over with soil again. Will they grow I'm abit confused as to why the green shoots died back
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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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