Last edited on November 02, 2026. View history
Van Zerden Garlic
A variety of garlic
How to sow Van Zerden garlic: Direct seed large cloves
Sun requirement for Van Zerden garlic: Plant in Full Sun
The garlic plant has a bulbous root separated into cloves and a tall stalk with branching leaves.
The plant has two main subspecies: hard and soft neck. The choice between which subspecies to grow depends on latitude and at what point in the growing season you will be planting the crop: garlic can be day-length sensitive. Hard-neck garlic is usually grown in cooler climates and creates larger cloves. Soft-neck garlic is grown in warmer climates and produces smaller, tightly-packed cloves.
Be sure to trim garlic scapes before they flower - this will focus the plant's energy into bulb growth, resulting in larger cloves and bulbs. Scapes have a fresh, light garlic flavor. They are delicious raw or cooked, and make a great pesto.
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Van zerden garlic facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
13cm × 10cmRow Spacing
10cmCrop 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 Van Zerden 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 Van Zerden 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 Van Zerden 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
Plant Van Zerden garlic with
green d'anjou pear
zucchini
yellow cauliflower
peperoncini
Video
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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) |
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