Garlic Heritage Collection (Autumn Planting)

What You'll Need

A garden fork or trowel • Well-rotted garden compost • Concentrated Slow-Release Onion, Garlic & Shallot Feed Granules • Horticultural fleece if birds are a problem • Horticultural grit if you have heavy soil

Prepare Your Soil

Choose an open, sunny position with fertile, free-draining soil. Garlic dislikes sitting in wet ground, particularly through winter. If your soil is heavy, work in plenty of organic matter and horticultural grit to improve the structure and drainage, or grow your garlic in a raised bed or container. Avoid planting in freshly manured ground.

Planting Your Garlic

Keep the bulbs whole until you're ready to plant, then carefully separate them into individual cloves, leaving the papery skins intact. Plant each clove with the flat base down and pointed end upwards, spacing them around 15cm apart. Cover the cloves with around 3–4cm of soil, leaving approximately 30–40cm between rows.

Protecting Young Shoots

Birds can sometimes pull up newly planted cloves or emerging shoots before they've rooted securely. If this becomes a problem, cover the crop with horticultural fleece or suitable netting until the plants are well established.

Watering & Feeding

Keep your garlic adequately watered during dry weather, particularly in spring as the bulbs begin to develop and swell. Avoid waterlogging the soil and stop watering during the final few weeks before harvest to help the bulbs mature.

Watch for Scapes

All three varieties are hardneck garlics and will produce curling flower stems known as scapes. Remove them while young so the plants can concentrate their energy on developing the bulbs. Don't throw them away – the tender scapes are edible and have a fresh garlic flavour that's great in stir-fries, omelettes or pesto.

Keep It Weed Free

Garlic doesn't compete well with weeds, so keep the area around the plants clear. Weed carefully by hand or hoe lightly between the rows, taking care not to damage the developing bulbs.

Growing in Containers

The varieties in this collection can also be grown in large containers with good drainage. Give the cloves plenty of space and place the container in the sunniest position you have. Container-grown garlic will dry out more quickly, so check it regularly during dry weather.

Good Companions

Garlic takes up relatively little room above ground, so it fits easily into a productive vegetable plot alongside crops such as carrots, beetroot and leafy salads. Just make sure neighbouring crops don't crowd it as the bulbs develop.

Making the Most of Your Bed

Quick-growing radishes and salad leaves can be grown nearby and harvested while your garlic is still developing. Leave enough space around the garlic for plenty of light and good airflow.

Crop Rotation

Garlic belongs to the onion family, so avoid planting it where onions, shallots, garlic or leeks have recently been grown. These crops can be affected by some of the same soil-borne pests and diseases.

Planning Ahead

Where practical, leave three to four years before growing onion-family crops in the same ground again. Once your garlic has been harvested, the cleared space can be put straight back to work with later-sown salads and other quick-growing vegetables.

When to Harvest

These varieties are generally ready to harvest in summer, with ‘Caulk Wight’ one of the earlier varieties and typically ready from around the end of June. Watch the plants as well as the calendar – when most of the foliage has yellowed and started to die back, it's time to check your bulbs.

Don't Leave It Too Long

Don't leave mature bulbs sitting in the ground unnecessarily. If garlic becomes overripe, the protective skins can begin to deteriorate and the cloves may start to separate, making the bulbs less suitable for keeping.

How to Harvest

Choose a dry day and carefully loosen the soil beneath each bulb with a garden fork before lifting it. Avoid pulling hard on the stem or bruising the bulbs.

Drying Your Garlic

Leave freshly lifted bulbs to dry thoroughly somewhere warm, dry and well ventilated. Once the outer skins and foliage are completely dry, brush away loose soil and trim the roots.

Storing Your Harvest

Once properly cured, keep the bulbs somewhere dry with plenty of airflow. Hardneck garlic generally doesn't keep as long as softneck varieties, so check your bulbs regularly and use any damaged or softening ones first.

Three Garlics to Try

Growing three varieties gives you the chance to compare their flavours in the kitchen. ‘Rose Wight’ and ‘Kingsland Wight’ have rich, intense flavours, while ‘Caulk Wight’ produces large cloves that are particularly easy to peel and prepare.

Roast Them

The large cloves are excellent for roasting. Tuck them around potatoes, vegetables and meat, or roast a whole bulb until the cloves become soft, sweet and easy to squeeze from their skins.

Use Them at Full Strength

Try the cloves finely chopped or crushed into pesto, garlic butter, marinades and dressings when you want to enjoy their flavour at its freshest and strongest.

Enjoy the Scapes Too

Don't overlook the young scapes from your hardneck garlic. They have a fresh garlic flavour and can be chopped into stir-fries and omelettes or blitzed into pesto – giving you something to harvest before the bulbs themselves are ready.

Understanding Your Garlic Bulbs

Garlic is supplied as a whole bulb made up of individual cloves. Separate each bulb just before planting and plant the cloves individually. Each healthy clove can develop into a complete new bulb.

Bulb Size & Clove Numbers

Garlic is a natural product, so bulb size and the number and size of cloves will vary. A bulb with fewer cloves isn't necessarily smaller or poorer quality – it may simply contain fewer, larger cloves. Any approximate clove count shown on the product page is therefore a guide rather than an exact number for every bulb.

Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck varieties typically produce fewer, larger cloves arranged around a firm central stem. They also produce the characteristic curling flower stem known as a scape, which can be removed while young and eaten. Hardneck garlic generally doesn't store for as long as softneck types.

Softneck Garlic

Softneck varieties generally produce more cloves of varying sizes and don't have the rigid central stem found in hardnecks. Their softer, flexible foliage can be plaited once dried, and they generally have a longer storage life than hardneck garlic.

Your Garlic Heritage Collection

This collection contains three hardneck varieties: ‘Caulk Wight’, ‘Rose Wight’ and ‘Kingsland Wight’. ‘Caulk Wight’ is exceptionally cold tolerant with attractive purple-striped bulbs, ‘Rose Wight’ produces rosy pink-and-white bulbs with dark pink cloves, and ‘Kingsland Wight’ has large pink-purple cloves and can be planted from autumn into early spring.

When Your Garlic Arrives

Keep the bulbs whole until you're ready to plant and separate the cloves immediately before planting, leaving their papery skins intact. If you can't plant straight away, keep your garlic somewhere cool, shaded, dry and well ventilated until you're ready to get it into the ground.