Seed Elephant Garlic
In the ground before the first hard frost, out the following July several hundred times heavier. Only the big cloves off the best bulbs make the cut. Sold in packs; UK shipping only.
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- Planting window
- Oct – Nov
- Harvest
- Following July
- Pack sizes
- 5 – 100 cloves
- Spacing
- 20cm apart, 5cm deep
- Expected bulb size
- 7 – 10cm across
- Dispatch
- Late Sept – Oct, in time to plant
Elephant garlic seed for UK gardens
Elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum) isn't true garlic at all — it's a close cousin of the leek that grows a bulb three or four times the size. It's not some pampered exotic either: the species grows wild across Western Europe, including along the Cornish coast, and it's been at home in British kitchen gardens for generations. One of the easiest alliums you can plant: it goes in before winter and asks for almost nothing until harvest. These seed cloves are British-grown, cured and hand-graded — never imported stock. Only the big cloves off the best bulbs make the cut, because clove size in is bulb size out.
What makes it worth growing
It's hardy through UK winters, shrugs off most pests (the allium smell sees off slugs better than most things you can buy), and gives you two crops in one: curly scapes in May — a genuine delicacy you cannot buy in a supermarket — then the bulb itself in July. The flavour is gentle enough that even people who claim not to like garlic eat it happily. And the moment you dig one up, you'll understand why I photograph everything next to an egg. Rather eat it than grow it? The July drop is here →
Growing questions, answered
When should I plant elephant garlic in the UK?
October to November, before the first hard frost. It needs a cold spell in the ground to split into cloves — plant in spring and you'll get one big round instead. Harvest is the following July.
How deep and far apart do the cloves go?
5cm deep, 20cm apart, pointy end up, in free-draining soil with plenty of sun. That's it — it's a forgiving crop, which is half its charm.
How big will the bulbs get?
A well-fed clove planted in October comes up around fist-sized the next July — 7–10cm across, splitting into 4–6 fat cloves. A 300–500g bulb is a good result, and with water in the dry spells the real monsters can hit 900g.
What do I do with the cloves before planting?
Open the parcel as soon as it lands and keep the cloves somewhere cool, shaded and airy — a shed or garage is perfect. Don't leave them sealed in the box, and don't put them in the fridge. They're dispatched late September to October, so they won't be waiting long.
Will it survive a UK winter?
Yes — it's fully hardy in the UK and happy in an open field. The green shoots sit through frost looking unbothered, and get going properly in spring.
More in the field notes: how to grow elephant garlic in the UK · when to plant elephant garlic · elephant garlic vs garlic