How to grow garlic in pots

There's a huge difference in the flavour and the variety of garlic available to grow at home and you'll get a much richer flavour than the kind you can buy at the supermarket. It's worth noting that shop bought garlic (grown purely for consumption) most likely wont grow as well as sets specifically for planting, leading to disappointing results.

There are two main types of garlic, known as softneck and hardneck. The main difference is that hardneck garlic tends to have an intense flavour and produces larger cloves, while softneck produces smaller cloves. 

Garlic has a long growing season from planting to harvest, 8-9 months to be exact, but don't be put off, it's worth the wait! Garlic will need a period of cold weather for the bulbs to develop properly, so planting between late autumn and early winter is the best time to get planting.

Garlic will grow best in a sunny position, and like many plants, damp/humid soil will increase the risk of disease, so it's worth keeping a close eye for potential issues. 

We recommend a sturdy plastic pot with drainage holes for container growing, aim for around a depth of 9 inches to ensure enough room for the roots to grow. The bigger the pot, the more cloves you can plant, for example a 50L pot could house around 10-15 cloves. 

For reference, we have used several 15L pots to grow our garlic, with roughly 3-4 cloves per pot. 

When it comes to soil, you will need a high-quality compost, we used Melcourt Sylvagrow Peat-Free with added John Innes, as it contains fertiliser to give the garlic the best start in life, and is made from sustainably sourced materials.

Break apart your garlic bulbs into individual cloves and remove as much of the white papery covering as you can, but do not 'undress' the garlic fully!

Once spring has arrived, you can move your pots back into a sunny position and let it soak up the sun. Remember to keep watering and to give it a feed with an organic fertiliser, for a quick boost. Once summer rolls around, you'll  notice a scape growing, this looks like a flower stalk, and is also edible. Cut this off to your garlic can focus its energy on the bulbs. 

So you've waited 8-9 long months to get here, but you will need to wait just a little longer before you can start eating your garlic. One of the easiest ways of curing your garlic is to hang them in bunches, tied by twine in a cool, dry place with good airflow.