Growing Garlic

Allium sativum : Amaryllidaceae / the onion family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
    P P P P            

(Best months for growing Garlic in Australia - temperate 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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18 Mar 16, Jessica (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, Im a first time garlic grower, and I wanted to find out if I should be putting in sticks or something to keep the leaves straight up? Or can they just bend over the pot with out issues?
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26 Mar 16, tony (Australia - temperate climate)
I have been growing garlic for a few years now and I just let them do what they want to do...
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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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04 Oct 15, Kate (Australia - temperate climate)
I have forgotten to plant my garlic , but have garlic nodes that are shooting out of the soil. The temp is 10-30 most days and the garden only gets sun til midday.
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10 Jul 15, Arthur Makhalemele (South Africa - Dry summer sub-tropical climate)
where do I get garlic seeds or bulbs in south Africa?
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17 Jun 15, Wendy (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I was rod to leave in the ground/pot for 2 years before harvesting Is this correct
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Showing 261 - 270 of 577 comments
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David, I also live in Zone 10A but in California (hot and dry, average 10 inches of rain per year), and please IGNORE the Aussie who thinks we do not check our Zone 10A recommendations. I have been container gardening here for a couple years and am still learning, with notable mistakes being not knowing correct planting/harvesting times (I now use this website over anything on a seed package), overcrowding, and overwatering. I have successfully grown garlic in Zone 10A, from store bought garlic cloves that were sprouting tiny green shoots, and they produced but the heads and cloves were only about half the size as the original store-bought, which might be caused by the climate, or more likely from be the mistakes I was making trying to grow new things like crowding, overwatering, and not knowing when to plant or harvest. Anyway, give growing garlic a try and my best advice is to avoid overwatering. I had a lot of cloves rot instead of growing and I think it was because of overwatering. After doing more research I'm trying to grow garlic again by planting some in NOV, and some in DEC, and really monitoring the watering. Even though my garlic was half sized, it still tastes great, so I would rather have half sized garlic I can grow myself than not growing garlic.

- Dave in California Zone 10A

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