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(Best months for planting Garlic in Australia - cool/mountain regions)

• Easy to grow.
• Harvest in 120-180 days
• Cloves. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 35°C.
• Space plants: 10-12cm

Garlic is traditionally planted in cold weather and harvest in summer ("plant on the shortest day, harvest on the longest"). Plant the cloves, point upwards, deep enough to just cover with soil. A fairly tough and easy-growing plant. On better soil with regular watering you will get a better crop. On poorer soil, and forgetting to water them, you will still get some garlic, only not quite so much.

Leave a garlic to go to seed, and you will probably get plenty of self-sown plants the following year.

To keep for later use, dig up and leave to dry out for a day or so after the green shoots die down. To use immediately, pull up a clove when you need it, or cut and use the green shoots.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Garlic

Cut the growing shoots or use the entire young garlic plants as 'garlic greens' in stirfry.

Your comments and tips

31 Oct 09 Julie (Australia - temperate climate)

My garlic is falling over and starting to yellow. But it still hasn't developed separate cloves. If I stop watering, will this help the cloves to develop? I am aware of the perils of over-watering at maturity, but I wouldn't say these are mature.

07 Nov 09 pete (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

has anyone had any success growing garlic in the brisbane coastal area? when we lived in canberra we had lovely plump garlic. but here nothing but failure or really small bulbs. i planted from organic garlic purchased at the local fruit and veg. loathe and detest that rubbish chinese garlic.(garlic imported from China? ed.)

12 Nov 09 Randall679 (Australia - temperate climate)

I'd really like to buy some new seasons garlic ... maybe 10kg. I live in Melbourne. Will pay shipping.

20 Nov 09 ken cook (United Kingdom - temperate/cool climate)

garlic is very forgiving, it would grow if you dropped one on the ground. Garlic is best using some of each crop the following years. it will acclimatise itself to the surroundings and soil type and eventually be top quality stock.alternate location to avoid disease.

20 Nov 09 Frank J (Australia - temperate climate)

Some of my Garlic is not developing properly,(about 50% of the plants bulbs are not turning into cloves), It all came from the same stock, i have about 200 plants.It is Garlic that i have used for 5 - 6 years.

27 Nov 09 Pete&Wendy (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

We have been growing organic garlic on the Sunshine Coast for nearly 20 years Garlic that is falling over and not forming full bulbs can be caused by late planting, lack of nutrient, either from invasive tree roots, or not enough fertiliser. Lack of moisture can also cause this. The "round" is still either edible or will still grow a bulb the following season. For Garlic that is reshooting this can be caused by planting seed stock that has been "long cold stored" 1degree will cause this to happen. For growing garlic in the warmer climates, variety is important. Try and get a variety that is climatised to our warmer winter. Garlic likes it cool. A trick a customer told me was he gave it a frost by mulching it with a bag of ice regularly!

02 Dec 09 Julie (Australia - temperate climate)

Pete and Wendy, you might be right about the fertiliser. It was planted on time, and we had late rain, right through spring, so plenty of moisture. Though I thought it got enough feeding, the bulbs did turn out smaller than usual - very disappointing! But when I stopped watering and let it dry it had formed cloves. Not so the large garlic - I've given up on that. More like a leek with a bulbous end. Oh, well, better luck next year!

19 Dec 09 Julie (Australia - temperate climate)

Well, the large garlic seems to have come good after all! I gave up on it and left it alone, but when I dug up a few, they had fomed cloves after all. I'm sure now that if I had continued to water them they would have split.

26 Dec 09 (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

my garlic seems to have a head of garlic seed that has shot from the plant that grew well. this started in oct . i have harversted it all. The head is purple and has about 50 tiny garlic bulbs in it and the size of a 50 cent piece i assume this is a head of seed

28 Dec 09 Vicki (Australia - cool/mountain climate)

Has anyone had any experience of garlic virus? Is is easy to recognise, and is it a problem anyway? I've heard that it may affect keeping qualities, and also that it can be spread by aphids and/or thrips. I planted several varieties this year, and some were starting to develop yellow "stripes" (lengthwise) on the leaves. I'm not sure if I should be using any of this to plant next year, or whether it's safer to buy new bulbs. If so, does anyone know where I can get certified virus-free bulbs?