Growing Elephant Garlic in Australia: The Complete Guide
Elephant Garlic is an easy bulb & allium to grow, needing full sun with moderate watering.
We get asked about elephant garlic often enough that it's worth setting out the full picture here, beyond what fits on our printable card.
A giant, mild relative of leek
Despite the name, elephant garlic is botanically closer to leek than true garlic — larger cloves, a milder flavour, and it's planted and grown almost identically to regular garlic.
Getting Elephant Garlic Into the Ground
Method — break bulbs into cloves, plant point up, root plate down. Soil — loose, well-drained, enriched with compost. Timing — plant in autumn — needs a cold period like true garlic.
Ongoing Care
A few things matter most here:
- Water regularly through the growing season; taper off before harvest.
- Remove flower stalks to redirect energy to the bulb.
- Mulch over winter.
- Weed carefully by hand around shallow roots.
Common Problems
The key things to get right:
- White rot — avoid replanting affected ground for years.
- Rust — improve airflow, rotate beds.
- Splitting bulbs — from harvesting too late.
- Onion maggot — use row covers early on.
When and How to Harvest
Signs — lower leaves brown, upper leaves still green. Method — loosen soil with a fork before pulling. Curing — cure 2–4 weeks in a shaded, airy spot. Storage — cool, dark, ventilated. Keeps several months.
That's the full picture behind elephant garlic. The printable A4 version of this guide — with the quick-reference gauges and diagram in one page — is available on the main guide page below.