Harvest guide

Garlic harvest guide: when to pick and how much to expect

Garlic is planted in autumn or late winter and harvested in summer. The key moments are spotting yellow leaves and drying the bulbs properly so they store well.

Harvest months: May–August(RHS)
Spacing: 15 cm (6 in) apart, rows 30 cm (12 in) apart(RHS)
Family: Amaryllidaceae (onion family)
Botanical name: Allium sativum

Garlic planting and harvest calendar

Plant February–March, October–December. Harvest May–August.(RHS)

Garlic season timeline

Plant
Harvest

Months are for a temperate Northern Hemisphere climate, based on RHS (UK) guidance. Shift them earlier or later to match your own frost dates, or by about six months in the Southern Hemisphere.

Plant out
Harvest

When to harvest garlic

Bulbs are ready once the leaves turn yellow. Autumn-planted garlic is usually ready from late spring to early summer, and spring-planted garlic from midsummer to early autumn.(RHS)
Don't leave bulbs in the ground too long. Late-lifted bulbs start to split open and don't keep as well.(RHS)

How often to pick

Lift the whole crop at once with a fork, handling the bulbs gently, since bruises shorten storage life.(RHS)

How many garlic to expect

The extension sources we use don't publish a reliable yield figure for garlic, so we don't guess one here. Weighing your own harvest is the best way to know what your plants give.

Yields vary with variety, weather, soil and care. Treat these as ballpark figures, not targets.

Storing your garlic

Dry the bulbs in a single layer in the sun or an airy shed for two to four weeks, avoiding heat above 30 °C (86 °F).(RHS)
Once the leaves rustle, cut them off and store the bulbs cool and dry at 5–10 °C (41–50 °F). Hardneck garlic keeps for about four to six months and softneck for up to a year.(RHS)

Track it

Log every garlic harvest

Harvest Journal is a private garden journal for your phone. Tap to log each picking of garlic by weight or count, and see your season add up, with no account needed.

Prefer paper? Make a free harvest report PDF in your browser, with no account needed.

Garlic harvest FAQ

When do you plant and harvest garlic?

In temperate climates garlic is planted from October to December or in February and March, and harvested from May to August. Autumn-planted garlic is ready earlier, from late spring.