Spring Planting Garlic

[Argonaut]

I am going to be planting a few varieties of Spring Garlic
See different methods
Several books say bury so tip is 2" below ground
Others say plant with tip protruding (like Onion sets)

Which is best approach?

[Andraste]

I'm not sure which is best but I've always buried garlic

[Florence Fennel]

I've always buried it too, but always in the Autumn so perhaps Spring could be different.

[bramble]

The same here, but I always thought garlic was planted in the autumn.

[rary]

I plant garlic the same way as I plant onion sets, but not sure if I would leave it as late as this, especially when it's so mild, you could always try some cloves in a freezer for a one hour then put them on the bottom shelf of a fridge for four or five days before planting, this night help them split into cloves as they bulb up, I have never tried this method, I came across it a number of years ago, but it might be worth a try with two or three cloves

[ameno]

Garlic needs a cold spell in order to trigger division into cloves. Without it, you will get one single large round clove instead. This is why it is normally planted in the autumn.
You can plant garlic in the spring, but it needs to have been cold treated first. If it hasn't been, it won't divide.

[Andraste]

The best garlic we ever grew was in our first plot year from a mid-April planting. They all split into cloves just fine and all we did was transfer them from the shelf in Poundland (other cheap shops are available ) straight into the ground. The next year I started them in modules in Feb from our own saved cloves but they didn't do as well.

However - we've only grown soft-neck garlic (no hard-neck or elephant) and I believe there are varieties more suitable to spring planting (perhaps a shorter harvesting time needed?).

I've no idea what variety our initial spring-planted cloves were as they were just labelled 'Garlic: White'.

On that basis I'd suggest garlic for spring planting is best bought around the time you want to plant it to have a better idea that it will be the right sort (garlic having been bought in autumn is likely to want to be planted then rather than kept until spring).

Edit to add for clarity: I'm guessing it's likely that the cold treatment being referred to for spring-planted garlic should have been done already by the nursery to the cloves being sold in spring. It wouldn't hurt to pop them in the fridge for a few days to be sure.

[ameno]

Edit to add for clarity: I'm guessing it's likely that the cold treatment being referred to for spring-planted garlic should have been done already by the nursery to the cloves being sold in spring. It wouldn't hurt to pop them in the fridge for a few days to be sure.

It should have, yes. If it's being sold as spring planting garlic then it should already be cold treated (so don't try to plant leftover autumn planting garlic, your own saved bulbs, or supermarket bulbs in the spring). Although some years ago I had three years on the trot of spring planting garlic from Wilko fail to split into cloves, meaning it wasn't cold treated (or at least not sufficiently). I gave up growing garlic after that.