In Australia, April is the time to plant your alliums.

If you're going to grow garlic, leeks, onions or spring onions this year then Tino's tips should give you the best crops possible.

There's a myth that garlic should be planted on the shortest day of the year and harvested on the longest. In the UK and Europe that might hold some truth but in Australia it is just a myth – you need to get your garlic in earlier. April is the prime time to plant!

FEATURED PLANTS

02:11 GARLIC 'SPANISH ROJA' Allium sativum cv.

02:21 GARLIC 'DUNGANSKI' Allium sativum cv.

02:33 ELEPHANT GARLIC Allium ampeloprasum

03:20 POTATO ONION Allium cepa

03:53 LEEK 'DURABEL' Allium ampeloprasum cv.

04:28 SPRING ONION 'RED BEARD' Allium cepa cv.

Tino's Top Garlic Tip - Garlic needs a good chill to start shooting, so he plants the cloves into furrows so they're just covered - that way they get a touch of frost. Backfill around the shoots as they grow.

HOW TO ... PLANT ALLIUMS

Pick a sunny spot
Add a barrow load of homemade compost for every 2 square metres
Add a bit of aged manure, about a bucket per square metre, but absolutely never use the fresh stuff; it will lower their resistance to pests
00:48 Cultivate the soil to a fine tilth to clear the way for the bulbs
Sweeten the soil with a tight fistful of dolomite per square metre

- plant garlic and elephant garlic bulbs 15cm apart

- plant potato onions 20cm apart

- plant seedlings 10cm apart

Water in seedlings, but not bulbs as they can rot

Timing is CRITICAL - plant in April!

In Australia we've got over 100 different cultivars of garlic that work in different climates and different places. Worldwide, there are probably over 1000 different cultivars of garlic so there are plenty to try!

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