Garlic went in today

LilacPixie

I'm in scotland too. Also a newbie and my 'garden' is actually a 12x3 slab of concrete. Still planning what to grow Garlic sounds interesting. I tend to use alot of it but TBH didn't actually know you could grow it in Scotland

olbas_oil

It's worth talking to the hire shop and describing the thickness of the hedge roots you are aiming to dig out. I was on the point of hiring a rotavator to go over some ground that had various bushes growing - and they convinced me that it would be no good at all. Instead I cut them to ground level, then used a fork to dig down, and a crowbar (make a good leverage point with another branch or stones - and extend the bar with some tubing ) to remove the roots.
Then I used an old petrol lawnmower set on lowest height (was already relegated to rough work) to make a tilth (beware of flying stones!).

Of course if you are getting a big digger you'll be able to remove roots with no trouble. Just look out for buried cables!

evie451

i love growing garlic its so easy and its something to start off in the winter and helps with the desperation to sow tomatoes!!

stick the cloves in somewhere soon (I have tried pots and a raised bed) so they get a good chill and you are away!! I must admit that i have used supermarket garlic and had pretty good results, this was spanish grown garlic from Asda and although it was maybe a bit smaller than a supermarket bulb it was strong and stored well....I just left it too late to order so called proper seed garlic, i have some this year but the ground in the west of scotland is frozen solid at the moment and so is all my compost :rotfl:

hopefulshell07

My soil is very clay, can I plant Garlic in it or would I be better off putting it into planters? If I should use planters how big would they have to be?
Thank you for any help - never done Garlic before.

valk_scot

I live in Scotland (near Edinburgh) and basically I look at the gardening books for planting times then add on a couple of weeks, on the basis that most gardening books quote the planting times for southern England. I've had an allotment for thirteen years now and have learned from bitter experience that trying to do things too early up here just means seeds etc rot in the ground, or freeze and die. I don't start many things till mid Feburary,. even if the weather is mild early on.

The best cheap and easily availible veg growing book for beginners is the Vegetable and Herb Expert one from the Hessayon Experts guide series.

Garlic...you can use supermarket garic if you plant it in the spring...the very end of Feburary would be about right in my area. If you're planting in November though and/or want a good reliable crop, it's best to use varieties adapted to the UK climate and shorter growing season. I have no idea what I use but it's a strain which our allotment site has been using for the last decade or so, and which gets shared around.

foreign_correspondent

To get rid of our privet hedge I used tree loppers to cut off all the stems perhaps a foot or so from the ground, both to get rid of the bulk and so we could see what we were doing and where each plant grew from - I then used a fork to loosen the topsoil round the roots, and used a tractor and a chain to pull the roots out. (i.e fixed the chain around the base of each plant, and pulled the chain with the tractor) - you dont want to cut the stems too short or you will have nothing to pull at!

orchidpepper

OH NOOOOOOO

My garlic that I planted is covered in snow!! Will it die? A cold snap is one thing but hidden under two inches of snow is another.... I have 9 cloves left if it does die though so i'm looking on the bright side