Growing Garlic

By Helmut Glenk

My family has grown garlic for generations. There is an old saying about planting garlic - plant at the winter solstice and harvest at the summer solstice. I think this appies more to the northern hemisphere. I have found over many years of growing garlic that planting in early to mid May and harvesting in November has produced the best results.

How do I plant garlic?

I buy some good sized ORGANIC garlic bulbs (never buy imported ones as they have been radiated and will not sprout). Break the bulb apart and select the larger cloves, place the cloves upright in a shallow open dish and cover the bottom section of the clove with water (see below).

After two/three days the clove will strout small roots (see below).

When this occurs plant the cloves upright about 2/3 centimeters deep and 10-15 centimeters apart in lightly fertilised loose soil. They are hardy and don't need much upkeep, keep weed free and harvest in November when bulbs have formed and leaves start to die off.