Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi everyone!

Ok, now don't laugh but . . . I wanted to plant some garlic and got some to grow last year from cloves I took from the supermarket garlic. I planted one clove per plant and got lovely green chive-like shoots, but I didn't get to see it completely mature because winter came and I was away on hols in autumn etc. It may still be out there, but I haven't looked in a few months. If this sounds pathetic, it's also because I'm tied up with kids, husband, dog etc and sometimes nature gets ahead of me.

Anyway, this spring I fancied planting some "properly" I've read that some people plant bulbs or cloves and others start from seed.

Any ideas as to what is better? Also, if I plant the bulbs, do I separate out each clove, or plant the whole bulb, like a hyacinth or tulip bulb?

I've never really done much with garlic before but would like to grow and harvest it as a regular thing, since I'm expanding my veggie bed this year and will have more room.

Any ideas?

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Changing the world, one plant at a time.

Hi grannysmith

Garlic does best when planted in the autumn and allowed to grow through the winter. A good period of cold weather (frost) is what gets the cloves to split and form a multi-clove bulb.

I think if you wait until the spring you may not get the cloves you desire.

I planted mine in pots in an open mini greenhouse late last autumn, and only managed to plant them in the ground this weekend. The have a couple of inches of green foliage and a decent root system so I'm hopeful they'll be ok.

Garlic's tough stuff - it's been around for thousands of years after all.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/
Updated with more pleas for money

Yep, I've signed up for the London to Brighton Bike Ride
http://original.justgiving.com/HeyWayne

Practise makes us a little better, it doesn't make us perfect.

So can I plant them now? And would single cloves work ok? OR do I need to plant seeds?

Or is it too late already to plant cloves in the ground outside?

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Changing the world, one plant at a time.

Hey

Wayne is right Garlic does benefit from some frost as it splits and you will get more bang for your buck so to speak. I guess if you are quick you could still get some in and have a couple of frosts get to them as the next week or so is gonna be cold.

What you need to do is split to bulb in to cloves and plant 1 clove every 5in or so just deep enough so the top is just visible.

I would also suggest a trip to a Garden Center to buy some for growing as this will more than likely perform better than the supermarket stuff and you will know what it is and can trust where it came from.

Hope this helps

Vince The Hat

Thanks, Vince! I'll be quick. I have tons of it here so I'll try the supermarket stuff tomorrow and plant some garden centre garlic a little later in the week. We're expecting quite a few cold weeks still so maybe I'll be lucky with it.

If I am, it'll be hats off to you!

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Changing the world, one plant at a time.

The benefit you've got with supermarket garlic is that it's relatively cheap - so you'll not lose so much if it doesn't work. GC garlic is likely to do better, but you'll lose more money should they fail.

Good luck.

Be quick.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/
Updated with more pleas for money

Yep, I've signed up for the London to Brighton Bike Ride
http://original.justgiving.com/HeyWayne

Practise makes us a little better, it doesn't make us perfect.

Thanks . . . I'll be faster than the speed of light. The bed is ok and ready anyway, I just have to walk outside in the freezing sleet tomorrow and stick the cloves in, well spaced.

You've all also answered my other question which was why my original cloves didn't actually split last year into proper garlics. I planted them in May and so what I got was some lovely green tall chive-like green bits sprouting from them which smelled like garlic if you broke them and smelled them, but which didn't actually split (I pulled one up in August to see what it was doing, and all that had happened was the clove had rooted, but that was it).

I was wondering what the heck you had to do around here to get a clove to make more cloves and start to look like a bulb. Looks like it's a question of the frost splitting them and having planted way too late.

Awwww . . . I really owe you guys! Thanks!

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Changing the world, one plant at a time.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you grannysmith. I only put my garlic in the ground on Saturday (from the garden centre) and I haven't grown it before either.

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pjh75

We sow the seed, nature grows the seed, we eat the seed. (Neil, The Young Ones)

http://producebypaula.blogspot.com/

I planted mine this time last year and they were fine, a bit on the small side but very strong flavour. I grew Marco, you can use some of your crop from this year to plant for next.

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Roll on spring

I would be a perfectionist, but I dont have the time

Thanks, Liza and pjh75!

This is encouraging. On an even more encouraging note, I finally managed to check the veggie bed properly and 3 of the garlics that I planted last spring seem to have made it through the winter, although some of their leaves are a little yellow. They still have strong green shoots (scapes?) and so I was wondering when to lift them and see if they've split and turned into proper bulbs, so I can use them??

Any ideas on that as well?

It LOOKED so simple to plant garlic, but I didn't know about the frost thing and the splitting thing and now . . . the "When to harvest them" thing. This is what I get for my habit of "experimental planting" of things.

I'll plant some other cloves today and then hopefully they might split with the bad and freezing weather we are expecting in the next week. Nice to know frost and snow has a use in the garden.

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Changing the world, one plant at a time.

i used to plant my garlic with just the tip showing,but i was told by an italian that it is better to put them about 1 inch deeper and for me,where i am ,it works,i have had consistantly larger crops.

Good tip buffs.....

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Roll on spring

I would be a perfectionist, but I dont have the time

Just wondering if its possible to grow garlic in pots? If so what size pots would be needed do you think?

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aka Donna

Needing some garlic advice please, i planted some garlic in a polytunnel in october last year and was wondering if i would be able to replant them outside now that the beds are complete many thanks

You would probably need to leave the doors of the polytunnel open for a few days to harden it off before lifting. Do they look like small leeks at the mo? If so, I would lift them with as much soil as you can and they should transplant ok.

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I planted Garlic in March last year and still got a decent crop.
I read somewhere that to simulate frosting you can keep the bulb in the salad drawer of your fridge for a week, giving it 30-45 minutes per day in the freezer.
Worked for me, but if you are absent minded, as I am, make sure you set an alarm to remind you to take the garlic out of the freezer.

Hi i wouldnt say that they look like small leek's, most have a few green leaves showing(if thats the right term?)though when i pulled one up to have a look it just looked like it had swelled and rooted, hence why i want to get them outside, when transplanting how deep should i put them?..on another note also pulled an autumn planted onion set likewise they have green shoots but seemed to have srunk into themselves? very bizare

After experimentation I've found that garlic planted 1 to 2 inches below ground seems to work for me.

As to the onions shrinking into themselves, you have to remember that the onion 'set' when planted is only a food store for the growing onion which grows up the centre then eventually begins to swell itself. What you are seeing is the 'husk' of the original foodstore which it doen't need anymore once its made its own roots and topgrowth.

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Snadger thanks for the information i was going to go and pull them all up for the compost heap really thought that they weren't working, same as the garlic i'll leave them be for now though i'll transport the garlic into the new beds hopefully they'll survive

Hi all, just an update, i transported the polytunnel garlic yesterday morning and moved it outside into one of the new bed's i just hope they survive the move? all have green shoots showing and i have noticed that two off them have splitand one clove now has two very exciting