Growing Garlic in the UK: A Complete Beginner's Guide

If you only ever grow one thing, make it garlic. It asks almost nothing of you. You push some cloves into the soil as the nights draw in, forget about them over winter, and by the following summer you're pulling up plump, aromatic bulbs that knock the shop-bought stuff into a cocked hat. There's no fiddly seed-sowing, no delicate seedlings to nurse, and very little that can go wrong. For a first-time grower in Britain, it's about as close to a sure thing as vegetables get.

Why is garlic such an easy crop to grow in the UK?

Most of garlic's growing happens while you're indoors with the heating on. You plant in autumn, the cloves put down roots and sit tight through the cold months, and come spring they surge into growth just as everything else is waking up. The whole time, your job is basically to keep the weeds down and water in a dry spell. That's it.

It also suits our climate rather well. Garlic actively wants a cold winter, which is handy in a country that reliably delivers one. And because it's in the ground over the quiet season, it doesn't compete for space with your summer crops. You get a harvest in early summer, then the bed's free again for something else.

The one thing to get right is the timing, and it comes down to a bit of plant biology worth understanding before you buy a single bulb.

When should I plant garlic, and why does the cold matter?

Garlic needs a proper spell of cold to grow well. This is called vernalisation, and it's the whole game. A cold period of roughly four to six weeks below about 10°C is what tells a single clove to divide into a full bulb of separate cloves. Skip the cold, and the clove just grows into one solid, undivided lump called a "round". Still edible, but not what you were after.

That's why autumn planting wins in Britain. Get your cloves in from mid-October to mid-November across most of the country, or in the first couple of weeks of October if you're up north or in Scotland where winter arrives sooner. Planting this early gives the roots time to establish before the ground turns cold, and guarantees the chilling the bulbs need.

Hardneck or softneck: which garlic should I grow?

There are two families of garlic, and the difference actually matters for how you grow, cook and store it.

Hardneck varieties send up a stiff central flower stalk called a scape. They tend to have fewer but larger cloves, a stronger and more complex flavour, and they shrug off cold better, which makes them the sensible pick for colder gardens and the north. The catch is storage: hardnecks keep for only around four to six months, so they're for eating through autumn and winter rather than hoarding.

Softneck varieties don't produce a scape. They pack in more, smaller cloves, taste milder, and store beautifully, often right through to the following year. They're the ones you see plaited into strings, because that soft, flexible neck bends where a hardneck's woody stalk won't. Softnecks generally do better in the milder south.

Grow hardneck if you're cold and after flavour. Grow softneck if you're milder and want garlic that lasts. Grow a bit of both and you've covered every base.

There's no wrong answer here. If you're not sure, buy a small mixed selection your first year and see what does well in your particular patch. Gardens vary hugely, even within the same county.

Why can't I just plant a supermarket bulb?

It's tempting. You've got garlic in the kitchen, why buy more? But it's a false economy, and here's the problem. Supermarket garlic is often imported and grown for warm climates like Spain or China, so it may not be hardy enough for a British winter. Worse, it can carry soil-borne diseases, and white rot in particular is a nightmare: once it's in your soil it can linger for years and ruin future crops of garlic, onions and leeks.

Buy certified seed garlic instead, from a garden centre or a proper seed supplier. It costs a few pounds a bulb, comes disease-checked, and gives you named varieties that have been chosen to grow well in UK conditions. It's one of those small upfront choices that saves you a lot of grief later.

How do I actually plant garlic?

The planting itself takes minutes. Pick a sunny, open spot with free-draining soil, because the one thing garlic truly hates is sitting in cold, waterlogged ground over winter. If your soil is heavy clay, dig in some grit or compost first, or grow in raised beds or large pots instead.

1. 1

   Split the bulb

   Just before planting, gently break the bulb into individual cloves. Leave the papery skin on each one and pick the biggest, healthiest cloves for planting. Save the small inner ones for the kitchen.

2. 2

   Space them out

   Mark out your rows and space cloves about 10 to 15cm apart, with roughly 30cm between rows. Give them room and each bulb has space to swell.

3. 3

   Plant pointy end up

   Push each clove into the soil pointy tip upwards, flat root-end down. This matters: plant one upside down and it'll struggle. Set them so the tip sits about 2.5 to 5cm below the surface.

4. 4

   Firm and protect

   Cover with soil and firm gently. On light soils or where birds like to tug at things, a bit of netting or fleece stops them pulling freshly planted cloves out of the ground.

5. 5

   Label and leave

   Pop in a label with the variety and date, then walk away. Autumn rain will usually do the watering for you, and the cold does the rest.

That's the hard part done, and it wasn't hard at all.

What care does garlic need through the year?

Refreshingly little. Over winter the cloves look after themselves. Once growth picks up in spring, keep on top of weeds, since garlic has sparse foliage and doesn't like competition. Water during dry spells, especially as the bulbs are swelling in late spring and early summer, but ease off as harvest approaches so the bulbs aren't sitting in damp soil. A feed isn't essential, though a light dose of a general fertiliser in spring won't hurt on poorer soils.

If you're growing hardneck varieties, you'll get a bonus crop. From late spring the plants send up those curling flower stalks, the scapes. Snap or cut each one off at the base once it has coiled into a loop. Doing this pushes the plant's energy back into the bulb instead of the flower, so you get a bigger harvest. And the scapes themselves are delicious: mild, garlicky, brilliant chopped into a stir-fry or blitzed into pesto. A free vegetable you didn't know you were growing.

When and how do I harvest, cure and store garlic?

Timing the harvest is the one judgement call, and the leaves tell you everything. From late June to mid-July, watch for the lower two or three leaves turning yellow and brown while the upper leaves are still green. That's your moment. Don't wait for all the foliage to die back, because if you leave them too long the bulbs start to split open and won't store.

Lift the bulbs carefully. Ease a fork under each one and lift, rather than pulling on the stem, which can tear the neck and let in rot. Brush off loose soil but don't wash them.

Now cure them, which just means letting them dry properly so the wrappers tighten and the bulbs keep. Leave the leaves attached, and lay the plants out flat on a rack, or tie them in loose bunches and hang them somewhere dry, airy and out of direct sun. A ventilated greenhouse, an open shed or a garage all work. Give them two to three weeks. Once the skins are papery and the necks are dry, trim off the roots and cut back the stems (or plait your softnecks).

Store the cured bulbs somewhere cool, dry and well-ventilated, ideally around 5 to 10°C. Skip the fridge, which is too damp, and never seal them in plastic, which traps moisture and invites rot. A net bag or an open basket in a cool cupboard is perfect. Hardnecks will see you through to late winter; a good softneck can last most of the way to next year's crop.

What problems should UK growers watch out for?

Garlic is tough, but a few things crop up in our damp climate.

Rust is the most common. You'll see orange, powdery spots on the leaves, and it's more of a problem in wet weather. The good news is it rarely ruins the crop. The bulbs are still fine to eat, so if it strikes late in the season, just harvest and use affected plants promptly and clear away the old foliage rather than composting it.

White rot is the serious one. It shows as yellowing, wilting leaves and a fluffy white mould around the base of the bulb. There's no cure, it persists in the soil for years, and it's the main reason to use certified seed garlic and never supermarket bulbs. If you ever spot it, remove and bin the affected plants and don't grow garlic or onions in that spot for a long time.

The best defence against both is good practice: don't grow garlic in the same bed year after year. Rotating where your alliums go stops diseases building up in the soil. Our crop rotation guide for UK gardens walks through how to set that up simply.

Beyond that, the main "problem" is overwintering losses on heavy, wet soil, which comes back to drainage. Get the site right at planting and you've headed off most trouble before it starts.

Garlic really is the crop that gives back far more than you put in. Plant it this autumn, more or less forget about it, and next summer you'll be curing your own bulbs and wondering why you ever bought it. For more beginner-friendly crops and seasonal know-how, head back to our Grow section.