The daughter of a wine broker, Garrod was born at Upper Tooting, London and studied at St John's Wood School of Art and with Suffolk artist Anna Airy. She was a professional painter, portraitist and miniature artist who exhibited at the Royal Academy. Little else is known of her life, she never married and retired to Swanage. A number of her wartime scenes appear on the market and are interesting historical records of civilian life under the threat of invasion.