Garlic Long Store Duo (Autumn Planting)

Why Plant Garlic in Autumn?

Planting your garlic in autumn gives the cloves time to establish roots before winter, while the colder months provide the low temperatures needed for good bulb development. Growth picks up again in spring, ready for harvesting from early summer.

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. Avoid planting in freshly manured ground.

How to Plant Garlic Cloves

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, with the tip approximately 2–2.5cm below the soil surface. Space the cloves around 15cm apart, with 30cm between rows.

Watering & Feeding

Water during prolonged dry spells, particularly in spring as the bulbs begin to develop and swell. Keep the soil adequately moist without allowing it to become waterlogged, then reduce watering as the crop approaches maturity.

Keep Them Weed Free

Garlic has relatively shallow roots and doesn't compete well with weeds. Weed regularly by hand or hoe carefully between the plants, taking care not to disturb the developing bulbs.

Growing Garlic in Pots & Containers

Both varieties can be grown in large containers with good drainage. Choose pots at least 30cm deep and allow around 15cm between plants. Check the compost regularly during dry weather, as container-grown garlic will need watering more often than plants in open ground.

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. Give each plant enough space and make sure neighbouring crops don't shade or crowd the developing garlic.

Make the Most of Your Plot

Quick-growing radishes and salad leaves can be grown nearby and harvested while your garlic is still developing. Once the bulbs have been lifted in summer, use the cleared ground for later-sown salads and other quick-growing crops.

Crop Rotation

Garlic belongs to the allium family, alongside onions, shallots and leeks. Avoid repeatedly growing these crops in the same ground, as they can be affected by some of the same soil-borne pests and diseases.

Planning Ahead

Where practical, leave three to four years before growing garlic, onions, shallots or leeks in the same ground again. Keeping your alliums moving around the vegetable plot is a simple way to reduce the build-up of potential problems in the soil.

When to Harvest Garlic

‘Rhapsody Wight’ is the earlier of the two varieties and can be ready from late spring into early summer, with ‘Provence Wight’ following in summer. Watch the plants rather than relying on the calendar alone – when the lower leaves begin to yellow and die back, the bulbs are approaching maturity.

How to Harvest Garlic

Choose a dry day and use a garden fork to loosen the soil beneath each plant before gently lifting the bulbs. Avoid pulling hard on the stems or piercing the bulbs, particularly if you're planning to store your crop.

Drying Your Garlic

Leave freshly harvested plants somewhere warm, dry and well ventilated until the outer skins and foliage are thoroughly dry. Taking time to cure the bulbs properly is important if you want to store them.

Storing Garlic

Once cured, keep the bulbs somewhere cool, dry and well ventilated. Check your stored garlic occasionally and use any damaged or softening bulbs first, keeping the best intact bulbs for later.

Make a Garlic Plait

Both varieties are softneck garlics, so their dried stems remain flexible enough to plait. Leave the stems attached after curing and braid several bulbs together for a traditional and practical way to hang your homegrown garlic.

Two Flavours to Explore

‘Rhapsody Wight’ has a fresh, zingy flavour that's particularly good in dishes where you want the garlic to come through clearly, while ‘Provence Wight’ has a richer, fuller flavour that's excellent for roasting and Mediterranean cooking.

Enjoy Rhapsody Wight Fresh

Make the most of the earlier harvest by using some ‘Rhapsody Wight’ fresh. Newly lifted garlic has a juicy texture and lively flavour that's particularly good finely chopped into dressings, sauces and summer dishes.

Roasting Provence Wight

The substantial cloves of ‘Provence Wight’ are ideal for roasting whole. Cooking mellows the flavour and turns them soft and creamy – squeeze them into mashed potatoes, soups and sauces or spread onto warm bread.

Top Tip

Use some of your earlier ‘Rhapsody Wight’ fresh, then choose sound, undamaged bulbs from both varieties to cure for storage. Use any marked or damaged bulbs first and keep the best intact bulbs for later.

What's in Your Collection?

The Long Store Garlic Duo combines two autumn-planting softneck varieties: ‘Provence Wight’ and ‘Rhapsody Wight’. They offer different flavours, bulb characteristics and harvesting times, with good keeping qualities once properly cured.

Understanding Your Garlic Bulbs

Garlic is supplied as whole bulbs made up of individual cloves. Before planting, carefully split each bulb apart and plant the cloves separately. Each healthy clove can develop into a complete new garlic 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.

Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck garlic tends to produce fewer, larger cloves around a firm central stem. These varieties also produce a flowering stem called a scape, which can be harvested while young and used in the kitchen.

Softneck Garlic

Both varieties in this collection are softneck garlics. Softneck varieties don't have the rigid central stem found in hardnecks and generally produce more cloves of varying sizes. Their flexible dried foliage can be plaited and they generally store for longer than hardneck varieties.

When Your Garlic Arrives

Keep the bulbs whole until you're ready to plant, then carefully separate them into individual cloves, leaving their papery skins intact. If you can't plant straight away, keep the bulbs somewhere cool, dry and well ventilated until you're ready to get them into the ground.