You may have never heard of perennial garlic before. Perennial garlic is just hard neck garlic that is grown in a different way and harvested less often over the course of a year than regular garlic.
Before I started growing it myself, I always thought that hard-neck garlic would be the best for storing because I thought it would be strong enough to last. But in reality is not as good for storing. I like to remember “s” for soft neck, and “s” for storage. This is the kind that you’ll braid and keep in your pantry until next year.
I have been growing hard neck garlic perennially in my orchard. Garlic provides some excellent permaculture benefits to the orchard. Garlic has a pungent smell that deters some of the bad pests. Also, it grows as a bulb. Bulbs help in preventing the encroachment of grass around your trees. If you have fruit trees, you should not have grass around them. Grass will take sugar and water away from the trees.
There’s two different ways that perennial garlic reproduces. In the spring the garlic will send up a flower spike. People know this as a “garlic scape” –they’re edible and delicious. Lots of people pick these garlic scapes when they are curled around themselves, either because they like eating them or because they want the garlic bulb to grow bigger. (Read my seven steps for growing large garlic heads here. ).
If you cut off the garlic scapes, the plant’s energy goes toward making big heads of garlic. If you don’t, the flower will put its energy into the fruit, which in this case is the small garlic bulbs.
These bulbs can be eaten; they taste like garlic and can be used like little garlic cloves.
Leaving the bulbels in place will weaken the stem over time as they get bigger, and the stem will fall over. Then the bulbels will root into the ground to grow more heads of garlic. You can help this process along if you want to by taking the bulbels apart and spreading them out evenly to plant.
The main head of Garlic can also be harvested like traditional garlic or left in the ground.
If you let whole garlic heads or bulbels fall to the ground and grow, they will go dormant when it gets cold. It will then grow more than one head of garlic the next spring. Each of the bulbels, or cloves, inside the head of garlic will sprout and grow into a new head of garlic.
It’s interesting to see how these garlic heads grow because all the cloves are arranged in a floret shape around the stem in the middle. So the new heads grow out from each other in this floret shape.
This is how they grow together from the head. Because they are so close together, they get a little misshapen. Because they were pushed up against the other garlic, these heads aren’t perfectly round. They’re a bit bumpy and flat on some sides.
Garlic (Allium sativum) is one of the most popular herbs grown around the world But is garlic actually a perennial plant? The answer is yes – garlic is technically a perennial, even though it is most commonly grown as an annual
Garlic Growth Habits
Garlic is part of the Allium genus which includes other perennial plants like onions, leeks, and chives. In its natural state, garlic is a perennial that comes back year after year. Each garlic bulb contains multiple cloves which will sprout and produce new plants.
However, for maximum bulb production most gardeners treat garlic as an annual and plant it in fall for harvest the following summer. This allows the bulbs to develop large cloves for eating and storing over winter. If left in the ground, the bulbs will get smaller each year as the plant’s energy goes toward producing more plants from the cloves instead of bulb growth.
Growing Garlic as a Perennial
While growing garlic as an annual produces the biggest bulbs, you can also grow garlic as a perennial plant. This requires less maintenance since you don’t have to replant every year Here are some tips for perennial garlic
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Plant initial garlic bulbs or individual cloves in the fall as usual Choose a permanent spot since the plants will come back each year
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Allow some plants to remain in the ground year-round. They will go dormant over winter and send up new shoots in spring.
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Harvest green garlic stems and scapes as desired during the growing season. This will not affect the return of the plants the following year.
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For full bulbs to store over winter, dig up a few plants each year in mid-summer, separate cloves, and replant in fall.
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Bulbils that grow from unharvested flower stalks can be collected in fall and replanted as new plants.
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Over years, the original plants will multiply, forming dense clumps of garlic shoots emerging in spring.
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The clumps can be dug up, divided, and replanted any time to propagate more plants.
Benefits of Perennial Garlic
There are several advantages to growing some garlic as a perennial:
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Provides a continuous yearly harvest without having to purchase and plant new bulbs
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Lower maintenance since plants come back on their own each spring
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Extended harvest period for green garlic and scapes compared to annual garlic
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Built-in supply of planting cloves and bulbils for future propagation
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Serves as a permanent edible landscape plant and pest deterrent when planted near trees or shrubs
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Adds unique curling scapes and airy bulbils to ornamental beds
Considerations for Perennial Garlic
When grown as a perennial, garlic won’t produce large storage quality bulbs. The plants put energy into multiplying instead. Here are some other factors to consider:
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Flavor and bulb size will diminish over years as newly formed cloves grow smaller
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Can harbor diseases like rust or mildew more easily when plants remain year after year
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May become weedy and require frequent division to control spread
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Not ideal for regions with extremely cold winters where the ground freezes deeply
Overall, allowing some garlic to grow as a perennial can be a useful technique for home gardeners. A few perennial patches provide a steady supply of garlic greens, scapes, and planting cloves. For maximum bulb production, growing most garlic as an annual is still recommended. With both options, you can enjoy this flavorful and easy to grow herb every year!
Watters Perennial Selections – Society Garlic
FAQ
Does garlic come back every year?
Can I leave garlic in the ground over winter?
Do garlic plants multiply?
Can you save garlic to plant next year?