Growing garlic

By Dennis Pitman, Medina Research Station, and John Burt, Horticulture Adviser, South Perth

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a member of the onion and leek family (Alliaceae). It is used mainly as a flavouring for other foods and increasingly as a herbal medicine and as a pesticide in organic farming.

The mature garlic bulb consists of modified storage leaves. It contains 6 to 30 cloves, which are held together by outer skins. White, pink and violet skinned varieties are available.

Soils

Garlic grows well and can be harvested easily on light, sandy soils. Waterlogged or hard soils give poor results, since these soils restrict the roots and cause misshapen bulbs. The most suitable soils have a pH of 6 to 7, although with careful nutrient management, garlic will tolerate soils outside this range.

Leave at least two years between successive crops of the onion, leek and garlic family, to prevent build-up of soil diseases.

Chilling

Chill bulbs for one week at 5C before planting to break dormancy, to give better and more uniform emergence and increase yields, especially for early plantings.

Planting

Garlic does not produce viable seed and must be planted from cloves. Obtain planting material from within Australia.

Diseases

Plants may be damaged by Fusarium oxysporum (storage rot), downy mildew (leaves), purple blotch (leaves) and viruses (whole plant).