Growing garlic is a great way for beginners to get started when growing crops for the first time and as we enter the autumn months now is the perfect time to try.

Working with, who else but the world famous Garlic Farm in Newchurch, we have summarised some facts on how to grow your own garlic and the best times for harvesting.

Growing and Harvesting Garlic

• Best to plant in winter – mid October, to ensure the best harvest the following summer.
• Avoid shop bought Garlic; visit the Garlic Farm for the perfect bulbs to plant with or try one of the Island’s garden centres.
• Break garlic bulbs into individual cloves ready for planting. Take care not to damage the cloves as this can lead to rotting.
• Plant the cloves in well-prepared soil, spacing them 10cm apart.
• Garlic plants grown in trays will be ready to plant out in March or April.
• Garlic is normally ready for harvesting when most of the foliage has turned yellowy-brown - this will be around mid-August time.
• Problems will occur mainly in wet summers as the yellowing will take longer, and if they are left in wet ground, they will become diseased.
• If the weather is wet in early August, pull up one bulb and see how many sheaths (very thin papery layers around the bulb) you can peel off the bulb. If there are more than four layers, it is advised to wait another two weeks or until the leaves have turned brown.
• When harvesting garlic bulbs, gently ease them out of the ground using a trowel to loosen the surrounding soil.