Too late to plant garlic?

PeteW

What do you think, is it too late to try? I understand they need a bit of cold weather to ensure the cloves split properly - are we now past the point where that would happen?

I'm in the south east and have not seen any frost for a while now.

Peete

foxgloves

Well, I expect someone will come along & say they once planted some on May-day or something & it was their best garlic ever, but I wouldn't plant it now. It does need a period of sustained cold for the cloves to separate properly. We usually plant our garlic in November. Last year, we tried planting it in February & although the cloves did split, the resulting bulbs were much smaller than usual. This time, we have gone back to planting it in November and the plants are already about 10cms high. My advice would be to wait until autumn and plant it then for 2011 crop.

zarazara

Its worth a try,whats the worse that can happen? It dies. Not the end of the world.

meg72

I always thought they needed a frost too but was in poundland yesterday and bought a pack which says plant feb-june so am going to give it a go. If the cloves dont split I suppose I could always chop and mince the whole bulb. Anyway worth a go at four for a £1.

PeteW

I bought these bulbs from a farmers market in November - will they keep until autumn to plant for next year?

charliee_3

would freezing them briefly help? or putting the pots in the fridge for a few days?

i have no idea.. just guesses...

rosie383

According to the weather forecast we are due for frost tonight in the southeast, and cold weather and wintry showers this week. That has to help surely.
And if the bulbs don't split, whizz the whole bulbs up with a tiny bit of oil and freeze in ice cube trays......instant minced garlic when you need it.

Barneysmom

We started some in the kitchen in the winter, with the central heating on and the were fine, they sprouted straight away in a pot which had a lily in it.

They said it's going to snow on Tuesday so I'd say give it a go?
Best of luck x

halight

Hi,
I planted some last year in the april. And tahy did not grow at all.
But i was out in the garden a few weeks ago and in the same place that i palnted the garlic there are loads of shoots poping up!!!!!!!!!
Ok i can not say at the min that thay are garlic but thay look like it from what i can see pokeing up.
Again i can not say that thay will turn out any good. But i going to keep my eye on them.

All the best what ever you decide to do

rosie383

How good would that be????? What a lovely wee bonus if they do turn out to be garlic. Mind you, I hope they haven't split so well that you end up with loads of those wee tiny fiddly cloves!

demented_2

I would pop them into the deep freezer for a day or two. I have heard that this works, lulls the garlic into thinking that its a frosty day lol.
I would think that no more than 2 days would be ok in the freezer.
Hope this is of some help