Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi!

I'm in need of some advice for planting garlic. I bought garlic at the weekend from the garden centre, I cannot plant it outside because everything is waterlogged. I would like to plant it in pots and put them in the greenhouse. If I use initially 3inch pots fill with compost and put the clove with the end just out of the compost, is that right or should it be below the surface? Very unsure as this is my first go at this, would like some advice and re-assurance.

Thanks in great anticipation.
Ogilvie (learner)

Mazel_bee,

I will want to transplant them outside once i can get some sharp grit it my raised beds and get them to dry up a bit. But that could be another six weeks or so. The greenhouse option is only a starter, I do most of my veg including starting potatoes this way, plant them in pots and then transplant ito the garden, it's the only way to get a longer growing season here in Scotland, especially when the weather has been as rotten and wet as it has been this last two months.

Ogilvie

I'd tip them out of the little pots and put them straight into the larger pots about 6 ins apart and as mazel-bee says deeper.
If you had planted shallots at that depth, then that would be perfect. Crazy -I know- as they look almost identical!
I'd also try and leave them outside of the greenhouse during the day too ( this may be good advice for the other plants in there) but out of the rain. Do you have somewhere sheltered you can leave them outside?

Oh- I've just read your last post.
They still need repotting into something deep as they are too shallow.

Nicos, will do the larger pots and yes, I can put them in the cold frame. Do you think that would do the trick, for goodness knows when the ground will dry out here enough to plant. Think I'll have to ask OH for some cloches, although with this wind that might be a bad idea.

Thanks
Ogilvie (happier now)

There may be more ventilation in the greenhouse??
I am probably not the best person to advise you though as in Cheshire we certainly get the rain...... sometimes the high winds ( force 8 two days ago ) .....but certainly not your sub-arctic temperatures and snow!!

Hello Ogilvie, I think 3" pots would be too small for your garlic. If you want to grow it in a container I would plant it in a big container and leave it there. There's no need to put it in the greenhouse as it's fully hardy.In fact, some frost is required for the garlic to split into cloves. But you're right that it doesn't like to be too wet. If you want to plant it in your deep beds then draw the rows up into drills (like for earthed up potatoes) and plant into the tops of the drills. This will help with drainage. And no, don't leave the crowns on the surface, plant them about 4" down. I hope they will do well for you.

Thanks Alice, for the advice. I really want to grow it outside but my raised beds are filling up with water with all the storms and East Kilbride is a kind of wet place at anytime. I have lived here only three years and I have never seen the ground dry out, even in the summer. The raised beds were only made in October, we added barrowloads of our own compost to raise the height of the soil but didn't get a chance to put in sharp grit to help with drainage on the clay soil before the weather changed. I look out everyday in dismay to see the beds filling up to the brim with water, it drains fairly quickly when the rain stops but I still have a long way to go with the drainage.

Ogilvie

Hi Ogilvie. This may be a dumb question, but have you put drainage holes in the sides at the bottom of the raised bed? I built a 10' x 4' raised mud bath once from wood stakes and wriggley tin sheeting. Then one of the old hands at the allotment asked about drainage. A battery drill and 8 holes later, I had a real raised bed.

Hello O - I've planted garlic for the first time this year. I did mine in large plastic buckets in September (the buckets were 99p for 8 in our supermarket - old flower buckets if you know what I mean). I left them outside, but during the cold weather put them in the greenhouse. I now need to put them back outside because as my wiser grapes have told me, they need the cold to split the cloves. So am giving it a go. DO give it a try - we can all compare notes! DDL

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Appreciate the little things in life because one day you will realise they are the big things

I planted mine out (clay soil) early january last year and they did very well, still eating them now. I live in South London and due to all the wet weather I haven't planted them out yet this year. The weather looks wet still for another week or so and I don't want them to rot particularly as I have clay soil. I'm a bit worried that they will not do very well this year if there is no cold snap - is anybody in the same situation?

Hi Ogilvie, your initial idea sounds fine to me. You can start garlic off indoors in a cool greenhouse, windowsill etc. with one clove in each 3 or 4 in pot & only need to push it just below the surface. Garlic only usually needs to be 1 or 2 ins below the surface. You can then plant them out sometime around March. I've accidentally grown garlic in pots sometimes when I've pushed cloves into pots containing bulbs as it seems to deter squirrels & the garlic has grown fine. I think you may have a bit of a problem though if you can't sort out the drainage in your raised beds but you could try mixing in some sand & grit into the planting hole to aid drainage around the cloves.

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Hi Ogilvie,

I grew garlic in pots last year and it was very successful.

Just make sure you dont put too many in one pot and make sure the pots are deep enough. Also you dont need to put them in a greenhouse, garlic likes a period of cold to get started. As I understand it they wont grow properly unless they get cold enough temperatures at the start, a bit like daff/crocus bulbs that you plant in September and flower in spring.

I put mine in large plastic buckets in October and left them out all winter. they started growing within a few weeks and survived frost and a covering of snow (I live in Leicestershire). By July I was starting to harvest some lovely bulbs which were quite mild in flvour but better than anything you buy in the supermarket.

Hope this helps

Pyewacket.

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They need a period of cold (below 10 c) so that they form cloves rather than a single bulb.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

I planted my (proper 'seed') garlic cloves on a fine day in October, was at the lottie on Sunday just gone - not a scrap of growth peeping out of the soil - yet 3 cloves from the supermarket I shoved into a pot in the garden have about 6" of growth.

Is my lottie garlic harvest destined not to happen, or may things come right in the spring???

Vik

Not really sure Geordievik, but how deep did you put them (and which way up?)
Some of ours have taken longer than others to show. We planted two lots three weeks apart and one lot didn't show yet, so I guess may not. We planted some more a few weeks apart and they've all come up. The longest the others have taken so far is one month from planting to sprouting. Wait and see I guess. Good luck.

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Regards, Jane
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? The creative adult is the child who has survived.
Ursula LeGuin
http://www.etribes.com/madderbat

oh, definitely the right way up (flat at bottom, pointy bit up) and I'm pretty sure they were the right depth.

Hmmm. Maybe we'll be buying garlic all next year at Tesco again!!

Hello Geordievick, the only thing to do now is get in there, dig up a bit of where you planted the garlic and see what is happening there. Have they rotted there o or what? If they've rotted then the wet has got them. Try drilling the soil up (as for earthing up potatoes) and replant into the top of the drills. This will help the drainage. If the bulbs are still there, then just be patient.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Don't give up, we've planted ours from eating bulbs off the market and had some this week that wanted to grow, so I shoved them in at home. If you have any eating bulbs with a nip of green shoot, try shoving them in and see if they go.

Are you aware of moon planting though? (there's a thread about it on the vine).
If you get it right things go better it seems. Waxing moon for leaf growth and waning moon for roots (I think). Have a look and give it another go.
Best of luck

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Regards, Jane
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? The creative adult is the child who has survived.
Ursula LeGuin
http://www.etribes.com/madderbat