In climates with long growing seasons, capsicum and tomatoes also are good candidates for planting after garlic or onions. In cooler climates, Chinese cabbage or pak choi may be the perfect choice.
Garlic Crop Rotation
Garlic and onions should follow brassicas, and be followed by potatoes. In a 4 crop rotation system garlic is only in the same bed every 4 years. This will keep soil bound pests and diseases at a minimum and improve the health of all crops.
To avoid disease problems, don't plant garlic in the same spot two years running. Prepare several shallow furrows in the soil that are 6 inches apart.
Move each section of the plot a step forward every year so that, for example, brassicas follow legumes, onions and roots, legumes, onions and roots follow potatoes and potatoes follow brassicas.
One of the few downsides to growing garlic in the garden is that it will build up sulfur in the soil, which can inhibit the growth of certain plants. Garlic will stunt the growth of beans, peas, and most legumes, and should be planted further away to prevent reduced growth.
Garlic substrate could influence plant growth through affecting soil microbiome structure. The relationship mechanism between changes in soil microbial communities, disease suppression and plant development, however, remains unclear, particularly in the degraded soil micro-ecological environment.
Garlic gets along with most plants, but it should not be grown near asparagus, peas, beans, sage, parsley and strawberries, because it will stunt their growth. Companion Planting – Truth or Myth?
After onions, plant heavy feeders like tomatoes, chili, winter squash, swedes, winter cabbage, pumpkin, radishes, or lettuce. These plants have roots that help create channels for water and the air by bringing these closer to the surface for the shallow-rooted plants.
If you have some winter squash, Pumpkin, Swede, Winter Cabbage, Chilli or Tomato plants in pots, these can be planted after onions. Your climate will determine how long you have left in your growing season and that will affect your choice of plants.
Be sure and amend the soil with well rotted manure or, preferably a quality compost. If possible spread 2 to 1 inch of compost over the entire planting area and work it into the first few inches of soil. As with most garden crops, garlic grows best when the soil pH is between 6 and 7.
If left in the ground too long, the over-mature bulbs can split open, leaving them susceptible to molds and dehydration. Perhaps somewhere there are soils loose and loamy enough to enable garlic to be pulled out of the ground by the tops without tearing or breaking any stems.
Because garlic grows throughout the winter, it is a great crop for keeping your garden in production year-round. Also, heads of garlic can last for a long time when properly cured and stored, so they can be used in the kitchen and enjoyed for months longer than many other vegetables from the garden.
Carefully loosen the soil around the bulbs to minimize damage. The preference is to dig up the bulbs rather than pull them out. Shake off the excess soil, keeping the wrapper intact. By having more of the wrapper intact, the garlic will store longer.
In your garden, you might fill openings in strawberry beds with garlic, or to plant garlic in a widely spaced double row, with strawberries in the middle. Depending on your climate, you might plant the garlic now, mulch over the bed through winter, and add the strawberries in early spring.
It is a good idea to practice rotation when planting garlic. Don't plant garlic where onions or a member of the onion family has been grown previously. Plant garlic in full sun and in a well-drained bed with organic matter worked into it.
Onions have a limited root system, so improving the soil with lots of organic matter before planting is invaluable – dig in a bucket of garden compost or well-rotted manure per square metre/yard. This will help add nutrients, improve the soil structure and hold moisture in the soil. Avoid using fresh manure.
Don't plant them in the same location year after year, as this can encourage the spread of diseases that affect the crop. Learn more about crop rotation. Select a location with full sun, where your onions won't be shaded by other plants. The more energy they can get from the sunlight, the larger their bulbs can grow.
Onions make great planting companions due to their ability to improve the flavor of their companion plants, as well as deter pests like aphids, Japanese beetles, and rabbits. However peas, pole beans, bush beans, and asparagus don't grow well when planted near onions.
Garlic is great to grow alongside members of the Brassica family, like kale, kohlrabi, cabbage, and cauliflower. Garlic helps to repel cabbage loopers, cabbage maggots, cabbage worms, and Japanese beetles from vulnerable crops.
If you leave a mature onion in the ground over the winter instead of harvesting it as recommended, the mature onion will begin to multiply. The onion that is left in the ground will begin to form sections, much like a garlic clove. Those sections can then be separated and planted as sets each spring.
One option for how to store onion bulbs for next year is to place the sets together in a mesh bag, or you can tie the tops of the onions and hang them. The storage location should be cool and dry but not freezing, as this can damage the sets. Also, avoid warmer temperatures, as the sets may begin to sprout.
Natural Pesticide/Insecticide: When used as a foliage spray, garlic is effective against aphids, Colorado potato beetles, whiteflies, bean beetles, cabbage worms, spider mites, moths (including the diamondback moth), ants, and termites.
Sometimes if you have particularly wet weather then bulbs will start to rot in the ground before maturity and the tops will die off. So even the tops dying down is not a reliable sign. It's a matter of knowing your soil, your conditions and your garlic.
I even had the disease consume an entire plant, but luckily, it was close to harvest time and the garlic bulb survived. You may have seen this on other plants too: onions, leeks, shallots, chives and even corn, wheat, sugarcane, and lemongrass are all susceptible to this disease.