Purple garlic: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
When and how do you plant purple garlic?
Plant purple garlic at the time suited to your variety. Many cultivars are planted in autumn to experience winter cold, while others suit a later start. Purple wrappers alone cannot determine the schedule: check the cultivar name and the batch instructions. Avoid frozen or waterlogged soil.
Choose a sunny, well-drained site and remove competing weeds. If heavy soil stays wet over winter, a raised bed or starting cloves in modules can reduce their exposure to saturated conditions. Do not put fresh manure into the planting holes.
Split a healthy bulb into cloves shortly before planting, keeping each clove’s skin intact. Set them pointed end up and flat base down, about 15 cm apart with around 30 cm between rows. Covering the tips with roughly 2–3 cm of soil is a guide to adapt to your ground; avoid deep planting in heavy soil.
Backfill without compacting hard. Water if the soil is dry, without soaking it. If using cloves already rooted in modules, keep their rootballs intact when moving them so the roots do not break. Check actual soil moisture afterwards rather than watering automatically.
How to care for this plant
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Weed
Remove weeds around young bulbs, especially if they shade them. Close to the plants, weed by hand to protect the roots and avoid damaging the bulbs.
When and how do you harvest and dry purple garlic?
