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Growing garlic in pots

Updated: October 2026

You have a patio, or a bed you no longer trust, and you still want a few bulbs next summer. Growing garlic in pots in the UK works when the container is deep, it drains, it stays outside for the winter cold, and you fill it with fresh compost. Open-ground spacing stays on [how to plant garlic](/hub/root-vegetables/plant-garlic/sub/plant-garlic-how-to-plant). The [plant garlic comparison](/hub/root-vegetables/plant-garlic) is the packet table, and the listings do not name a pot size. The Products Compared editorial team used the Royal Horticultural Society container notes, Gardeners’ World, and the Garlic Farm’s pot article, read against these amazon.co.uk listings. We did not run a patio trial. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

You have a patio, or a bed you no longer trust, and you still want a few bulbs next summer.

Our top picks

Live Seeds Live Seeds Solent Wight 20 cloves

Best overall

Live Seeds Live Seeds Solent Wight 20 cloves
10.0/10about £5.99
View offer
Live Seeds Live Seeds Provence Wight 30 cloves

Preis-Tipp

Live Seeds Live Seeds Provence Wight 30 cloves
8.6/10about £8.49
View offer
Carbeth Plants Carbeth mixed 3 bulbs

Alternative

Carbeth Plants Carbeth mixed 3 bulbs
6.0/10about £9.99
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.When a pot is the right bed
  2. 2.Depth and how many cloves
  3. 3.Compost, water, and cold
  4. 4.What these packets actually say

When a pot is the right bed

A pot is the right bed in three cases. You have only slabs or a balcony. The soil is heavy clay that sits wet in winter. Or onion white rot is already in the garden, and you need compost that has never held an allium. The RHS records no chemical cure a home gardener can use, and the fungus persists for years. Gardeners’ World suggests fresh compost in a container if the bed is infected. Tip that soil into the pot and you have moved the problem. Ramsons do not belong in a hot patio pot. Just Seed and the Nika packet are Allium ursinum, a shade plant for leaves. If the packet is pin-head seed, use the wild garlic seeds page, not this one. Culinary garlic in a pot still needs about one to two months at 0–10°C. Leave it outside. Full sun suits Allium sativum once that winter chill has happened.

Depth and how many cloves

Published sizes disagree, so each number belongs to the source that printed it. Do not merge them into “a 25 cm pot with three cloves” as if one guide said both. The RHS grow guide says pots at least 25 cm deep, peat-free multi-purpose compost, and the same spacing as the ground. It does not say how many cloves fit a diameter. Gardeners’ World uses a pot at least 20 cm wide and 20 cm deep, with about three cloves in a 20 cm pot and five or six in a 30 cm pot. The Garlic Farm uses at least 15 cm depth, with 2–3 cloves in a 15 cm pot, 4–6 in a 20 cm pot, and 8–10 in a 25 cm pot. Fifteen centimetres is their figure, and it is shallower than the RHS 25 cm line. If you can choose, meet the RHS depth, and use a cautious clove count so the pot does not stay crowded and wet in February.
Live Seeds Live Seeds Solent Wight 20 cloves

Testsieger

Live Seeds Live Seeds Solent Wight 20 cloves
10.0/10about £5.99
View offer

Compost, water, and cold

Use fresh peat-free multi-purpose compost, the RHS container suggestion, and make sure water leaves the base. Do not add soil from an allium bed. If white rot is why you moved to a pot, that spadeful is the mistake. Leave the pot outside through winter. Water when the compost is dry in spring. In a pot that moment arrives sooner, because the volume is small. The RHS notes that container compost dries out. Three cloves are a kitchen crop, not a long bed. The best seed garlic page is where a named variety is chosen before you fill several pots.

What these packets actually say

None of the eleven listings gives a litre or a diameter. Carbeth’s three-bulb and six-bulb mixes say containers and patio planters, and they stop there. The three-bulb care line gives 2–3 cm deep and 10–15 cm apart, which is a bed line, not a pot recipe. Cristo, Germidour, Provence Wight, and both Solent packs raise pots as a question and do not answer with a size. Provence Wight at £8.49 is the conditional pick when you want reviews on that listing, though some buyers received bulbs rather than 30 loose cloves. A 20-clove Solent pack at £5.99 has one rating and no text, so you are trialling the parcel as well as the pot.

Common questions

How deep must the pot be?
The RHS grow guide says at least 25 cm deep. Gardeners’ World says at least 20 cm wide and 20 cm deep. The Garlic Farm says at least 15 cm deep. Those are three minima, not one rule.
How many cloves go in a 15, 20, or 30 cm pot?
The Garlic Farm suggests 2–3 cloves in a 15 cm pot, 4–6 in a 20 cm pot, and 8–10 in a 25 cm pot, with their 15 cm depth. Gardeners’ World suggests about three cloves in a 20 cm pot and five or six in a 30 cm pot, with a 20 cm depth. Keep each source’s depth and count together.
What compost should you use?
The RHS container note says peat-free multi-purpose compost. Use a fresh bag if you are avoiding white rot, and do not dilute it with soil from an infected bed. Do not plant into fresh manure.
Will a pot still get the winter cold?
Only if it stays outside. Most culinary garlic needs about one to two months at 0–10°C. A heated room misses that spell. Do not overwinter the pot on a kitchen windowsill and expect a segmented bulb.
Which listings here mention pots?
Carbeth’s three-bulb and six-bulb mixes mention containers and patio planters, with no diameter or depth. Provence Wight, both Solent listings, Cristo, and Germidour raise pots as a question and do not give a size. A question on the listing is not a measured container.
Can a pot avoid white rot?
A pot of clean compost can keep new cloves out of soil that already has onion white rot. It does not cure the bed, and there is no amateur chemical control. Do not scoop infected soil into the container, and do not compost plants that show white fluffy growth. On a shared allotment, tell the site before you move soil or replant alliums.

Related pages

Garlic bulbs for planting

Plant garlic

Best seed garlic UK: named cloves and what to skip

How to plant garlic in the UK: cold, depth and spacing

Wild garlic seeds: ramsons seed, not a garlic clove

Sources

Public UK sources, read with the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Shelf prices and star lines are those listing figures. The Garlic Farm price is a specialist benchmark, not an amazon.co.uk row.

  1. RHS: How to grow garlic (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  2. RHS: Onion white rot (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  3. RHS: Leek rust (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  4. RHS: Allium ursinum (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  5. The Garlic Farm: Solent Wight seed (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  6. The Garlic Farm: Provence Wight seed (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  7. Which?: How to grow garlic (retrieved 16 October 2026)
  8. Gardeners' World: How to grow garlic (retrieved 16 October 2026)