Spring Planting Garlic Duo

What You'll Need

A garden fork or trowel • Well-rotted garden compost • Concentrated Slow-Release Onion, Garlic & Shallot Feed Granules • 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, so if your soil is heavy, work in plenty of organic matter and horticultural grit to improve the structure and drainage. Avoid planting in freshly manured ground.

Planting Your Garlic

Keep the bulbs whole until you're ready to plant, then separate them carefully into individual cloves, leaving the papery skins intact. Plant each clove with the flat base down and pointed end upwards, around 15cm apart and 2–2.5cm below the soil surface. Leave approximately 30cm 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

Water during prolonged dry periods, particularly as the bulbs begin to swell in late spring and early summer. Keep the soil moist without waterlogging it, then reduce watering as the crop approaches harvest.

Watch for Scapes

Both varieties in this collection are softneck garlics and don't normally produce the curling scapes associated with hardneck varieties.

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

Both varieties can be grown in large containers with good drainage. Choose a pot at least 30cm deep, space the cloves around 15cm apart and position it in full sun. Check the compost regularly during dry weather and water when needed.

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. 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 plants 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 used for later-sown salads and other quick-growing vegetables.

When to Harvest

Both varieties are generally ready to harvest from July into August. Watch for the lower leaves beginning to yellow and die back while some of the upper foliage remains green – a useful sign that the bulbs are approaching maturity.

Don't Leave It Too Long

Once the bulbs are mature, don't leave them in the ground unnecessarily. If left too long, the protective skins can begin to deteriorate and the cloves may start to separate, which can affect how well they keep.

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 foliage 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

Both ‘Solent Wight’ and ‘Mersley Wight’ have excellent keeping qualities. Once thoroughly cured, store the bulbs somewhere cool, dry and well ventilated. As softneck varieties, their flexible dried stems can also be plaited and hung for storage.

Full-Flavoured Garlic

Both ‘Solent Wight’ and ‘Mersley Wight’ give you a good, full garlic flavour for everyday cooking. ‘Solent Wight’ is particularly noted for its aroma and flavour, which holds up well during cooking.

Roasting Garlic

Roast whole cloves until soft and mellow, then squeeze them into sauces, mash or roasted vegetables. Slow roasting brings out their sweeter side while keeping plenty of garlic flavour.

Using It Fresh

Freshly lifted garlic has a livelier flavour. Finely chop or crush the cloves into dressings, salsa or garlic butter where that fresh garlic taste can really come through.

Everyday Cooking

Keep a bulb close to hand for adding to soups, stews, pasta sauces, curries and traybakes. Both varieties have enough flavour to stand up well to cooking, making them useful garlics to have in the kitchen.

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

You'll receive four bulbs in total. ‘Solent Wight’ contains approximately 10–16 cloves per bulb, while ‘Mersley Wight’ contains approximately 14–18, giving you around 48–68 cloves across the collection. Garlic is a natural product, so exact numbers and clove sizes will vary.

Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck garlic typically produces fewer, larger cloves arranged around a firm central stem and usually develops an edible flower stem known as a scape. Neither variety in this collection is a hardneck.

Softneck Garlic

Softneck garlic generally produces more cloves of varying sizes and has flexible foliage that can be plaited once dry. It also tends to keep for longer after harvest than hardneck garlic.

Your Spring Planting Garlic Duo

‘Solent Wight’ and ‘Mersley Wight’ are both softneck garlics well suited to British growing conditions. ‘Solent Wight’ is particularly well adapted to the British climate, while ‘Mersley Wight’ is a vigorous variety originating from central France and named after Mersley Farm on the Isle of Wight.

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 the bulbs somewhere cool, shaded, dry and well ventilated until you're ready to get them into the ground.