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How to Grow Garlic in Western Australia

Author

Baileys Fertiliser

Published

16 April 2020

Vegetable & Herbs

How to Grow Garlic in Western Australia

Make a note in your diary. April is allium month. 

Allium is the Latin name for garlic, but it also refers to the genus of plants that are onions, chives, leeks, shallots and of course garlic. Timing is important for most veggie crops, but for alliums, it's essential. Their growth patterns correspond with how much sunshine they get, so, that's day length and temperature. To get big fat garlics or onions, you need to make sure they have a lot of leaf growth before the day lengthens. When this happens, they stop growing leaves and they start growing bulbs.

Fresh garlic is wonderfully tasty, pretty simple to grow and requires a small area to get a good crop. Now, more than ever, it's important to know where our food is coming from and the cooks among us are always on the hunt for good quality garlic grown in Australia - this means it hasn't arrived from a long overseas journey depleted of flavour. 

Garlic is native to Uzbekistan and Kurdistan in Central Asia, and was traded to both Europe and Asia, where it has become part of their culinary staples, selected on taste.  As a result, about 1000 cultivars of garlic now exist worldwide; in Australia we have about 100 or so. 

Most of the garlic imported into Australia comes from China which produces about 75 per cent of the world's garlic. Locally grown garlic usually appears at the fresh veggie markets from December through to May. Only use Australian garlic when planting out bulbs  as imported garlic has to go through quarantine, treated with methyl bromide and often bleached - and that's apart from the fact it's illegal to plant out imported bulbs.

Planting

Garlic is a long-term crop and takes 6-8 months from planting out cloves to harvest. Plant in Perth any time from March to May, waiting until the first cooling nights before planting. Always resist planting cloves if temperatures are still above 38 degrees because this will cause bolting. 

Alliums hate a crowd, meaning they hate to compete for space from things like weeds, big sticks, rocks and large clods of soil. Cultivated your soil well, making sure it's friable, light, free draining and organic rich.  

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How to Plant

  • Get the right cultivar for your climate.  
  • Choose a spot in full sunlight and with plenty of air movement around the plot but minimal wind.
  • Garlic needs an organic-rich, loose, free draining soil. Enrich first with mature compost and manure, like that found in Baileys Soil Improver Plus or Clay & Compost. Never use fresh manure. The pH should be between 6-7. Sweeten the soil with a handful of dolomite per square metre if required. 
  • Apply an organic based fertiliser high in nitrogen phosphorus, magnesium and trace elements before planting. A handful of Soil Matters Garden per square metre is perfect.
  • Start with the bulb and only split when you're about to plant. Break your bulbs apart into individual cloves remembering to leave the papery coating on. Make sure each clove is firm.When planting garlic, use the biggest, plumpest cloves to ensure the best crop. Smaller cloves can be eater or sprouted.
  • Plant with the root end down and the pointy tip up, in rows 15 cm apart, each clove 10 cm between and 2 cm deep. Down to your first knuckle.
  • Water and make sure they don't dry out, but don't overdo the watering, garlic hates wet feet. Garlic requires regular watering when planted out but decreasing amounts towards harvest time so the soil is dry before pulling.
  • Mulch with an organic, fluffy mulch like pea straw, to keep the moisture in and suppress weeds. Keep well weeded in general.

Fertilising

Apply a liquid feed fortnightly or an organic based granular feed monthly from planting on wards. Zinc and Magnesium are the main trace element required. Symptoms of zinc deficiency in garlic include stunting of plants and yellowing of young (inner) leaves which develop burnt tips. Manganese deficiency is seen as streaking of younger leaves and leaf twisting around the stem axis. Be careful not to over-do it, too much fertiliser will result in side shoots in the garlic.

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Common Problems 

Garlic attracts fewer pests and diseases than most vegetable crops. The major pest is thrips, which are found beneath the leaves and between the leaf base and stem. Small white patches appear on the leaves and the bulbs may shrivel. Other pests include red-legged earth mite, aphids, snails and nematodes.

 The most common disease is downy mildew (affecting the leaves). Garlic is very prone to rotting off in wet winters, so ensure good drainage by preparing soils well beforehand and growing in raised beds or even large pots. 
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Harvest 

Garlic is ready to harvest when the leaves gradually reduce and die back. Soft Neck garlic leans over as it ripens into a bulb.
Lift the bulbs, laying them top and tail and leave in rows in the sun for two weeks if they can remain dry. Then they are ready to plait or bunch and hang in a cool and well-ventilated place away from vermin.

There are hundreds of different varieties of garlic and the good news is there'll be one or two that are well-suited to your conditions. Our advice would be try a couple of varieties. They all mature at different times, which means you'll be able to enjoy your garlic for a lot longer throughout the year.

Soft Neck Varieties 

These usually produce larger bulbs and higher yields but they do produce side shoots in spikes of hot weather. They will not produce a hard-flowering stalk, which makes it a great choice for braiding. The cloves are smaller than hard neck varieties. These varieties can easily be stored for up to 9 months and are better for regions where winters are mild.

  • California Early produces up to 16 large cloves per bulb with white skin and is a medium to late-maturing variety.
  • California Late is the same as the early but is harvested up to a month later and stores well.
  • Italian White 1 produces a whopping 22 cloves per bulb, stores well and is a cream-coloured variety.
  • Italian White 2 (St George) is also a white-pearl variety producing 10 cloves per bulb.
  • Printanor is a popular variety in France and New Zealand with medium-to-large, white bulbs; it has a beautiful rich flavour producing 20 cloves per bulb.


Hard Neck Varieties

Hard-necked varieties produce fewer and larger cloves per bulb than the soft-necked and may also produce bulbils on the top of the stem. You can replant these for a new crop. In hard-neck varieties bulbs develop on top of the neck, and they produce a flower stalk, or scape, that will need to be removed once the plant forms.
These varieties will store well for only a few months, so use them sooner than later. Grow hard neck varieties in regions where there is extended cooler weather.

  • Glenlarge is an early, large-cloved purple variety producing six to 12 cloves and is more suitable for people living in warmer winters from Perth and above.
  • Italian Pink is the main variety you will see for sale in the markets and veggie stores. It is medium sized with thin, pink-purple skin. It matures early and produces about 12 cloves per bulb. It stores very well for up to five months.
  • New Zealand Purple (also known as Tasmanian Purple) is medium sized with strong, white to purple skin, producing about eight cloves per bulb. It is a popular one for the growers because it's easy to skin.
  • Spanish Roja is a small-headed variety with a hot and spicy flavour. It may only produce six to 10 cloves but it's worth growing it for the flavour alone.

Elephant Garlic

Also known as Russian garlic but is not a true garlic. It is closer to a leek with a mild flavour and solid bulb with three sides that split into five cloves. It produces the most beautiful large purple balls of flower. 

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