Garlic help required please !!

[beaufontboy]

Hi folks, can anyone tell me what i should be doing with my garlic bulbs that I have just bought !! Thanks

[BrideXIII]

if you try the search functuion you will see there are dozens of threads lately on growing garlic, its about the only thing we can still plant

[crazy_red]

Hi, my first time growing garlic this year too.

I've asked loads of questions and had loads of great advice. Tried to sum it up below, hope it makes sense!

Split up the bulb into cloves, rub off any loose papery skin then plant either:

direct into soil in growing position, if growing in soil
direct into pots in growing position, if growing in pots/planters
direct into small pots for growing on until planting in spring in either soil or pots/planters (I used 3" plastic pots)

you can also pre-sprout the cloves, to check which ones are viable by standing the split up cloves, on their blunt end, on damp paper or cloth, on a lwindow-cill before doing one of the above.

The ones which are viable will sprout, roots first, then they may or may not develop a tiny green tip from the top, as well. Anyway, once the roots appear you can plant them - you only need a few tiny roots to come through and you don't need to wait for the top shoots to appear, apparently.

You will need to use a straight sided dish or plastic tray, etc., to hold the paper/ cloth. You then rest the cloves up against the side of whatever container you're using on damp, but not soggy paper or cloth.

I mis-understood this part and spent the best part of an evening clove balancing before someone very kindly rescued me

I found the paper/cloth needed checking every day to make sure it hadn't dried out. I used cloth and rinsed/wrung out and replaced, as necessary.

PM me if you need more info, I haven't got the hang of the forum controls yet, but I managed to saved a list of all advice bits.

Hope this helps.

Have fun!

Red x

[HeyWayne]

Also probably worth selecting the fattest cloves to use (if, like me you're using common garden supermarket garlic).

Looks like Red's done her research though!

[crazy_red]

Hi Hey Wayne

So, size does matter........

Just wrote down all the advice ever given about garlic whilst reading every thread, all the way through, twice..... before someone untapes my gob at the Gardeners Rest

[Alice]

Helo Beaufontboy, I've never had any garlic cloves that didn't grow so I dont bother about pre chitting.
Split the bulbs into cloves and plant them 2" deep and 4" apart, either in containers of compost or straight into the ground.
If your ground is very heavy or very wet, rake it up into drills (as if you were earthing up potatoes, then plant the cloves into the tops of the drills. That will help the drainage. Hope you get great garlic.