When to plant garlic - experts reveal the best time to get your cloves in the ground for a summer harvest

Garlic is one of the most satisfying plants to grow. It's an ingredient we all use on an almost daily basis, and the good news is that now is the perfect time for planting garlic to have your own homegrown crop next year.

If you’ve been wondering how to grow garlic, then this is the time to get started. Garlic thrives when planted in autumn, in fact, garlic is actually one of the best fruit and vegetables to sow in November (although you can get started now.)

Garlic should be a garden staple for anyone starting a small vegetable garden. It’s a low-maintenance crop, producing reliable harvests - making it a great grow for seasoned pros and novices alike.

What you'll need

‘The best time to plant Garlic is in the Autumn time, to allow the roots to develop whilst there is still warmth in the soil and it is not too waterlogged with continual winter rains,’ says Mike Bracegirdle, Category Manager, Grow your Own for Marshalls Garden.

‘It is often said to plant on the shortest day and Harvest on the longest, so planting can be done up to December. However, there are some varieties that can be planted as late as February or March as they are able to establish quickly.’

These varieties are Solent Wight garlic and silver garlic silverskins. If you have heavy soil, you may also be better suited to planting in the spring.

But why does garlic prefer the cold?

'Garlic prefers colder weather as the bulb needs a period of cold for good development, with most varieties needing one or two months of temperatures between 0–10°C for the cloves to develop into bulbs,’ says Graham Smith MCIHort, a gardening expert from LBS Horticulture.

‘Ideally, the right weather for planting garlic is when temperatures will be between 0–10°C for a month or two, as this will provide the garlic with the period of cold that it needs for development. You can try to measure the soil temperature to determine if it is the right weather for planting, and you can begin to prepare the soil for planting around a month beforehand.’

Garlic needs a period of cold – called Vernalisation – to make the cloves split and form several cloves and stimulate spring growth and further root development, according to Mike. He also recommends checking how wet your soil is before planting.

‘Soil should be moist but not wet and waterlogged, and not dry,’ he says.

‘The bulbs can rot before they develop roots if the soil is too wet for long periods of time. If your soil is wet try to add organic material to open up the soil structure and improve the drainage.

‘If you are in colder parts of the UK or very wet areas, then garlic can be grown in pots or trays and grown outside overwinter and then planted in the Spring in the garden, once the soil starts to dry out.’

Luckily there are ways to restore a wet garden just incase the heavens open when you want to start planting.

With garlic ready to harvest in summer when its leaves have gone yellow, don’t hesitate to get your gloves in the ground now!