One of the easiest things to grow and with 5-6 bulbs you can keep yourself in garlic for a year

You can use the cloves of garlic you find at the back of your fridge which have grown green tails , but you will have more success with sourcing named variety certified disease-free garlic bulbs from garden centres or online shops.

Difficulty Couldn’t be easier – practically plant and forget

Where Sunny position

Soil Loose free-draining soil, any PH

When Early October or February as soon as the ground is no longer frozen

Preparation Dig soil over to a depth of 30cm a few weeks before planting

Separate the individual cloves from the bulb, being careful not to rip the papery skin. No need to germinate the cloves. If you are using old garlic from the fridge which has self sprouted, keep the green sprouts on. If planting in February, wrap in moist tissue/kitchen paper in a sealed bag in the fridge for a week before planting

Planting Plant in a grid pattern, 10-15cms apart. Push the cloves into the soil, flat end down and pointy end up until just below the soil level. Water well. In early October plant in individual pots and leave to overwinter in the greenhouse or in a coldframe, lightly watering once a week before transplanting out to the open ground in February, or plant directly into the ground in February

Care Birds love to pull up the sprouting cloves so you may want to net them until they are around 10cm tall. Will benefit from occasional hand weeding. Water only when there hasn’t been any rain for 2 weeks until mid-summer then don’t water at all. Remove any flower heads as soon as you see them

Feeding none needed

Harvest When the top half of the leaves have gone yellow pick a sunny day and, gripping the stem 5cm above soil level gently pull the garlic up out of the ground. Let the bulbs dry out in the sun for a couple of days to form skins. Be as gentle as possible with them until they have dried out as the fresh bulbs are very easily bruised and will rot within weeks

Storage Once dried, twist into plaits or cut the leaves off completely and separate into individual cloves then store in a paper bag in a cool, dark, dry place until needed. If harvested and stored in autumn 90% will still be good in March, 70% in June, 50% in August when it is time to throw away all of the garlic remaining from last year’s crop. Don’t store cloves in oil due to the risk of botulism poisoning

Saving Seed Don’t try to grow from seed. After harvesting this year’s crop, separate out the largest 20-30 for planting next year’s crop and eat the rest

Varieties Mersley Whight works well in cloudy, damp gardens