Last edited by shiny on November 07, 2026. View history
Soft Neck Garlic
Soft Neck Garlic
A variety of garlic
Garlic (Allium sativum) is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to Central Asia, northeastern Iran[1][4] and the foothills of Himalayas. It has naturalized in many other parts of the world, including Mediterranean Europe and China.
- 2
- plantings
- 2
- harvests
- 1
- seed packet
Soft neck garlic facts
Lifespan
Row Spacing
10cm median of members' seed packetsWhen to sow
Grown for
bulb harvested 2 timesCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For soft neck garlic, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 90 days at its best temperature, about 1530 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your soft neck garlic will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing soft neck garlic
- Dig compost into the bed 2 weeks before planting out
- Mulch the bed 2 weeks after planting out
- Weed around the plants 4 weeks after planting out every month
- Water in dry weather 8 weeks after planting out every 2 weeks
- Snip off the flower stems 3 weeks before first harvest
- Stop watering 2 weeks before first harvest
- Lift the bulbs at first harvest
- Dry the bulbs in a shaded, airy place 1 week after first harvest
- Keep the best bulbs for replanting 2 weeks after first harvest
How members grow soft neck garlic
Sunniness
Planted from
Harvested for
Plant soft neck garlic with
zucchini
yellow cauliflower
green d'anjou pear
peperoncini
Photos
Photos
Soft neck garlic plantings
Soft neck garlic harvests
Soft neck garlic seeds
Video
Where soft neck garlic grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about soft neck garlic
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Who's planted soft neck garlic
- Batchelor Raised Bed Right · Auckland, NZ
- shiny Sunny old raised bed · Wellington, NZ
Soft neck garlic harvests
-
shiny harvested 4.
almost 7 years ago
-
shiny harvested 2.
almost 7 years ago
shiny harvested 4.
View all soft neck garlic harvests
Sign in or sign up to track your soft neck garlic harvests.Find soft neck garlic seeds
View all soft neck garlic seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 90 to 120 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Allium sativum L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Liliopsida Liliidae Asparagales Alliaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -5 °C, rest: -5 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about soft neck garlic
Resources outside Growstuff.
