Divisi
How to grow Garlic
Allium sativum · Amaryllidaceae
Photo: Ivar Leidus · CC BY-SA 4.0
Garlic (Allium sativum) is grown for its compound bulb — the head that splits into the cloves you cook with. Unlike most crops you don't grow it from seed: you plant the cloves themselves (called 'seed cloves'), and each big, healthy clove grows into a whole new bulb, so clove size is the biggest thing you control. Garlic is a cool-season crop with two special needs built in: the cloves must first feel a spell of cold before they will split into a proper multi-clove bulb (this cold requirement is called vernalization), and the bulb only swells once the days grow longer through the season. That is why garlic does best in the cool highlands or planted for the cool season; in warm, low areas you must chill the cloves first, or use a local warm-country variety. Garlic also feeds heavily on sulphur — the nutrient behind both yield and the sharp garlic taste. And its season ends differently from a grain crop: you must take it off water and dry (cure) the bulbs before they will store.
Cecilemckee · CC BY-SA 4.0 
Matthew Pilachowski · CC0
- Days to maturity
- 120–210 days
- Row spacing
- 30 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 10 cm
- Sowing depth
- 3–5 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will garlic actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Garlic
knoffel · nech shinkurt · garlic · ail · tafarnuwa · alho · kitunguu saumu · kitunguu thomu · àyù
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing garlic, stage by stage
Your garlic season from clove to cured bulb — pick and prepare big, clean seed cloves, plant them tip-up into a rich, well-drained bed, feed and weed the young leaves while beating back thrips, keep the water steady while the bulbs swell, then dry the crop off, lift gently and cure the bulbs so they keep for months.
- Get your cloves and bed ready
- Plant your cloves and get them rooting
- Grow the leaves — feed, weed and beat the thrips
- Bulbing — the make-or-break window
- Ripen, stop water and lift
- Cure, clean and store
15 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for garlic — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack garlic
3 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your garlic right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does garlic take to grow?
Garlic takes about 120–210 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for garlic?
Space garlic rows about 30 cm apart, with roughly 10 cm between plants within the row.
How deep should garlic be planted?
Sow garlic at about 3–5 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack garlic?
The ones covered in this guide are Botrytis neck rot, Fusarium basal rot, Purple blotch. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow garlic with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first