Plant garlic in October and November for bigger bulbs

The best time to plant garlic in the UK is from early October to late November. Autumn planting gives the biggest bulbs, because garlic needs a few weeks of cold to split into separate cloves, and cloves planted now get that cold over winter.

If autumn slips past you, plant from early February to mid-March instead. It still works, but the bulbs tend to be smaller and a few may come up as single round bulbs.

Why autumn planting wins

A clove planted in October puts down roots while the soil is still warm, then sits more or less still through the winter. That cold spell triggers the plant to divide into cloves once growth starts again in spring. It also means the plant has a head start, so it makes more leaf before midsummer, and more leaf means a bigger bulb.

Garlic is hardy to about -15 °C, so frost isn’t a worry. Waterlogged soil is. Cloves sitting in cold, wet ground over winter can rot, so on heavy clay plant into a raised bed or a ridge of soil, or start cloves in modules in a cold frame and plant them out in early spring.

These dates are for a typical lowland garden in England or Wales, with a first frost around the end of October. In Scotland, the north of England and frost pockets, aim for October rather than late November so roots form before the ground gets cold. In the south-west, near the coast and in cities you have a little longer.

Spacing and depth

1. Pick a sunny spot with soil that drains well. Dig in some compost if the ground is poor, but don’t add fresh manure.
2. Break the bulb into single cloves just before planting. Use the fattest ones from the outside of the bulb and eat the small middle ones.
3. Push each clove in pointed end up, with its tip about 2.5 cm below the surface.
4. Space them 15 cm apart, in rows 30 cm apart. In a square-foot bed, nine cloves fit in each square.
5. Cover with soil and firm gently. Birds sometimes pull cloves out before they root, so put a bit of netting or fleece over the bed for the first couple of weeks.

Keep garlic away from peas and beans if you can. Alliums and legumes are traditionally kept apart, and garlic sits happily next to carrots, beetroot, tomatoes or strawberries instead.

Hardneck or softneck

Seed garlic is sold as one of two types, and they behave differently.

Feature	Hardneck	Softneck
Flower stalk	Sends up a stiff stalk (scape) in early summer	Usually no stalk
Cloves	Fewer, bigger cloves, easy to peel	More cloves, some small
Storage	A few months	Often until the following spring
Best planted	Autumn, as it needs a good cold spell	Autumn or spring

Softneck types such as Solent Wight are the usual choice if you want garlic to last through winter, and their soft stems can be plaited. Hardnecks are often said to have more flavour, and the scapes are a bonus crop. If you’re planting in spring, choose a softneck or a variety the supplier sells for spring planting.

Looking after it

Garlic needs very little. Weed regularly, because it has thin upright leaves and can’t compete with weeds. Water in dry spells in spring and early summer, when the bulbs are swelling, then stop watering once the leaves start to yellow so the bulbs firm up.

On hardneck varieties, snap off the scape when it curls over in early summer.

When and how to lift garlic

Garlic is ready from mid-June to mid-August, depending on when you planted and the variety. It takes around 140 to 170 days from planting. Lift it when the lower leaves have turned yellow but the top few are still green. Each green leaf is a layer of papery skin around the bulb, so if you wait until the whole plant is brown the skin splits and the bulb won’t store.

1. Loosen the soil under the bulb with a fork. Pulling it by the stem often snaps it.
2. Brush off loose soil but don’t wash the bulbs.
3. Dry them somewhere warm and airy, out of direct rain, for two to three weeks. A greenhouse bench, a shed with the door open or a covered rack outside all work.
4. When the skins are papery and the necks are dry, trim the roots and cut the stems to a few centimetres, or plait softnecks with the stems on.
5. Store somewhere cool, dry and frost-free.

Common problems

Rust. Orange spots on the leaves in summer. It looks bad but rarely ruins the crop if the bulbs are well grown. Clear the leaves away afterwards and don’t plant alliums in the same spot the next year.

White rot. A white fluffy mould at the base of the bulb, with yellowing, dying plants. It stays in the soil for years, so move your alliums to a fresh bed and don’t compost the affected plants.

Small bulbs. Usually late planting, too much shade, or weeds left to grow. Planting in October and keeping the bed weeded fixes most of it.

Bolting softnecks. A softneck that throws up a stalk has usually been stressed by a hot, dry spell. Lift and use those bulbs first.

If you want planting and lifting dates for your own town rather than a lowland average, VegLog works them out from your local frost dates.