Growing garlic & interplanting tips

Whether you put copious amounts into every meal or display plaits or bunting-like strings of it throughout your house, you’ll want to grow as much garlic as you can. Here’s how to plant garlic and get a different crop in the same space at the same time. It’s a simple game-changing hack to stack plants and double your yield.

Planting garlic cloves

When growing garlic from cloves, it’s important that you prep your soil so it’s free draining and well fertilised with compost and/or aged manure.

1. Soak the garlic cloves in a seaweed solution for a much-appreciated boost of minerals.

2. Space the cloves approximately 10cm apart to ensure that each garlic bulb has enough room to mature and not get crowded.

3. Make the rows around 30–40cm apart to ensure good ventilation and room for a short-growing second crop (see below).

4. Use your finger to make a hole twice the length of the clove, and pop one in with the pointy end facing up. Cover with soil and pat in firmly.

5. Water the crop in, and regularly water so the soil is always moist.

6. Once spring rolls around, give your garlic fortnightly liquid feeds. You can stop this once the bulbs start to form.

Growing garlic with companion plants

Now about that second crop… Garlic can be in the ground for 6–8 months, which is a long time to lock up precious garden real estate. Make the most of the space and sow some quick-growing seeds or seedlings of greens and little button radishes, which will all be up and out of the ground before the garlic matures. That last point is important: garlic hates competition, so make sure you whip out any weeds as they pop their heads up across the growing season to get the most from your crop. Give it a try!

Photo of Hannah Moloney by Natalie Mendham

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