planting garlic

[ashamomodablam]

can i plant garlic now?????????

[Capsid]

No,wait until Autumn.

[Cutecumber]

You can, but it's unlikely to bulb up and split as it should. You might get some small sprouty things, but not a big bulb that you might expect.

Garlic needs a period of cold to develop properly - which is why it is sown in the autumn or early spring. A fair amount of moisture during its leafy phase (i.e. before the bulb starts to swell) helps it, too.

Hold off and plant some in November instead.

[deezyb]

as the others say, plant in the autumn...I planted my first garlice at the beginning of October and even though the leaves got pecked away by pigeons, it's growing strong! Can't wait to try it!

[bloom]

No,wait until Autumn.

why wait til autumn???? - newbie!

[bloom]

also when would you harvest it?

[Flapjack]

I read (on here I think) that it needs the cold spell for the bulb to split into cloves. Harvest in July when the leaves have gone brown.

[deezyb]

like cutecumber says, garlic needs some cold weather to make the cloves split and grow properly....autumn planted garlic is generally harvested around july I believe...I'm a first timer with garlic, but I think the leaves go yellow/brown and this is the sign that you should lift the garlic. Actually I think you're supposed to just loosen the soil without taking the garlic out..leave for a day or two to dry out and then you can lift it. hope this makes sense.

D

[bloom]

do you need to do anything for it to survive the winter ie frost?

[Flapjack]

Not that I'm aware of - I just stuck mine in and left them!

[bloom]

brilliant my kind of plant :-)