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 USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Plant cloves

September: Garlic can overwinter. Cover with a good layer of mulch . In areas where frost persists into March/ April, expect to harvest your garlic in June/July.

October: Garlic can overwinter. Cover with a good layer of mulch . In areas where frost persists into March/ April, expect to harvest your garlic in June/July.

  • Easy to grow. Plant cloves. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 95°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 4 - 5 inches 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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03 Mar 16, Greg (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
You can get great fruit n veg stock, lots of great garlic from a nursery at crystal creek near numanba vally . Greg
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29 Feb 16, Tony (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Thanks for your reply Ann - I have been searching the web for a week and I think I have exhausted all the web-sites, including green Harvest. GH have seed but what they have in stock is more suited to cooler winters than we experience here. I have found some Italian Red in the Hunter Valley - but it has sprouted - I guess I'll just have to take the risk and plant it now - at least a month early and hope for cooler weather. Thanks again for taking the time Tony
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29 Feb 16, Anne Gibson (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Tony, I suggest you try Green Harvest online catalogue. Or pick up from Witta (near Maleny) if you're on the Sunshine Coast. They have a mail order supply of garlic from March. March/April is the ideal time for planting in subtropical climate.
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29 Feb 16, Tony (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi - I am looking to purchase seed garlic. Because I live in sub-tropical Australia, I believe I should grow soft neck garlic such as Southern Glen, GlenLarge or Italian Red. Not interested in Russian (Elephant) garlic.Hoping to buy 1kg. does anybody know of a supplier of seed-stock of any of these? Every supplier I have tried has run out of stock - I have left my enquiry a bit late. Many thanks for any replies.
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20 Feb 16, Rhonda (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, We have been growing garlic successfully for years and loving it. When they were harvested this year they were left in the sun to cure and some of them went green. Can I still cook with the green ones or will they be bitter. Cheers, R
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09 Feb 16, Johan van der MERWE (South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical climate)
were can i buy gaint garlic seed I am at Ermelo Mpumalanga South Africa
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18 Jan 16, ATHOL HAWKES (South Africa - Humid sub-tropical climate)
Thanks for the basics of Garlic planting on South Coast Natal - hot & humid. What about soil preparation ?, PH ?; Fertilizers etc?.
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17 Mar 16, Bee-Pie (South Africa - Summer rainfall climate)
Nitrogen. Add cow manure as a side dressing.
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17 Jan 16, Becky (USA - Zone 9b climate)
I live in Ponte Vedra (about 15 miles south of Jacksonville Beach). I grew a little bit of garlic last year in our raised garden bed. It didn't seem to have a lot of flavor. I see that you don't recommend garlic for zone 9B. Why is that?
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05 Apr 21, Jack Benimble (USA - Zone 9b climate)
It gets so hot in 9b you have to have a shaded area that receives sunlight. 8 hours in the blazing Florida sun cooks the soil and roots. The hot temperatures that can begin as early as March-April heat up the soil and accelerates growth too quickly which results in smaller bulbs
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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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