Amal Nagm

How To Plant Garlic

Prepare the site
Loosen the soil with a fork and remove any weeds or large stones. Garlic should be planted in sunny or partially shaded sites that are sheltered from the wind. They shouldn't be planted in heavy clay soils. Use a landscape rake to create a level surface. If you have poor soil you may want to add organic matter before you start sowing the cloves.

Choose your cloves
Split the head of garlic into separate cloves. The best cloves for planting are around the edge of the bulb as they should be plump and hard

Sow
An easy way to plant garlic cloves is to make rows of small holes in the soil. Lay a piece of string on the soil as a guide to make sure you dig the rows in a straight line. Each row should be about 30 centimetres apart. Use a trowel to dig small holes about 5 centimetres deep. The cloves should be positioned about 15 centimetres apart with the tips pointing upwards.

Cover
Fill in the trenches by gently sweeping the soil back over the cloves.

Water
If you are planting your cloves in Autumn, you won't need to water them after planting unless the soil is very dry. If you are planting in Spring they may need watering to keep the soil moist.

Label
You may want to label your garlic so you know where and when they were planted.

Leave to grow
If planted in Autumn, your garlic will be ready to be harvested by late Spring.