Planting out the garlic

When is the best time to plant

The best time to be planting out the garlic can depend on where you live. Traditionally it is planted on the shortest day of the year and harvested on the longest day. However, I have planted garlic cloves in September (southern hemisphere) and still had a tremendously good harvest. I made sure to give my bulbs a few weeks in the fridge to help with stratification (think it has gone through a cold period).

How to plant my garlic

Before planting out the garlic you need to prepare some well dug garden beds. I used some old wooden planter boxes I had. In the end I have five beds, and each bed holds roughly 30-40 cloves. Once you prepare your garden bed with some good compost. I used my existing soil and some dry sheep manure from under our woolshed.

Once you have your garden beds ready you can plant the cloves. I brought my bulbs from GROW YOURS this year and I purchased the Early Purple and the Printanor variety. Keep an eye out in Autumn to buy your garlic bulbs as they sell out of the large ones fast. This year I was too slow, and I only could get small sized bulbs.

Pull the cloves off the bulb leaving the papery skins on. You will plant the clove with the pointy end up. Plant your cloves around a cm deep with around 2cm soil from the tip of the bulb. If you live in a much colder climate plant deeper and have roughly 8cm of soil on top of the clove.

What to feed your garlic

Garlic are very heavy feeders and require extra food during its growing stages. Last year I used wool dags around some of my garlic. The beds that I used the dags for as mulch had large bulbs and the ones without mulch and dags (sheep wool with poo on it from the back end of the sheep) were a lot smaller in size.

This year I also intended to use wool dags and I will be fertilizing with Agresea Liquid Fertilizer. My husband uses it on the farm as it is a natural fertilizer, and his paddocks always benefit largely from it.

Mulching

Using a good mulch is really important for growing good healthy garlic. I have used rotted hay in the past with good success, you could also use straw. You could use weed fabric but as I said above, I now use wool. Garlic is very susceptible to Rust. This is a fungal disease that forms on the leaves of garlic. One of the causes is splash back from soil onto the leaves and that is why it is a good idea to use mulch to help prevent it. It will also help to keep the soil moist.

Pests

Garlic is good at being a repellent for a lot of pests. Sometimes it can be susceptible to aphid damage. If you get aphids on your garlic, you can use a basic soap spray to help combat it. I use dish soap in some water and then use a spray bottle to spray the garlic. It will kill the aphids, make sure not to spray it on your plants in the hot sun. It is best to spray it in the evening, so it does not to burn your plants.

Companions for planting out the garlic

When planting out the garlic you can think about companion planting as well. Garlic is great for deterring other pests from other plants because it is a strong-smelling plant. It is a great companion with spinach and garlic because they are both cold hardy plants that can share a bed in the spring.

Garlic releases Sulphur into the soil which can reduce the likelihood of fungal infections in surrounding plants.

Potatoes and garlic are also a great companion because the garlic helps to reduce potato blight. Potatoes develop through roots and are very receptive to the Sulphur that garlic bulbs The strong smell of garlic will also deter or confuse pests that prey on potatoes.

Carrots also like garlic, and quite happily live together. They are also harvested in a similar way, although carrots like to send out their deep roots into the earth. Garlic on the other hand have quite shallow roots. This makes these plants a match made in heaven if you want to maximize your garden space.

More information

If you would like to see more on how to plant out your garlic, please go watch the YouTube video of me making the beds and planting out the cloves. I will be making sure to update you more as the garlic starts to grow. You can watch the video HERE