Growing garlic on the balcony.

marmiterulesok

I'm interested in growing garlic on my balcony.Has anyone done this successfully?

I think that I might have left it a bit late this year.I've had a look on www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/onion-shallot/grow-garlic.php

It mentions planting in November or in the spring.

I live in Switzerland BTW.

TIA!

elsien

I can't help on the Switzerland front, but I know garlic grows fine in pots - I grow it in containers every year. I plant it in November and harvest in June. It needs to be quite a deep pot though. My mother tried planting in the spring but it just didn't get going at all.

If you think it might be a bit cold ( I don't know what temperatures you get), have a look at this.
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/garlic-grow/

marmiterulesok

Thanks,I'll have to wait a while,but will have a go later in the year.

Sambucus_Nigra

marmiterulesok wrote: »

Thanks,I'll have to wait a while,but will have a go later in the year.

Not that long, I put mine in September and harvest June.

lizzyb1812

Garlic needs a period of cold to germinate and bulb properly so plant it in October/November and forget about it until late June/July. And I've never heard of anyone having success with planting cloves from a supermarket bulb of garlic - they apparently sprout but don't form bulbs - cue lots of people saying this has in fact worked for them :rotfl:

Sambucus_Nigra

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Garlic needs a period of cold to germinate and bulb properly so plant it in October/November and forget about it until late June/July. And I've never heard of anyone having success with planting cloves from a supermarket bulb of garlic - they apparently sprout but don't form bulbs - cue lots of people saying this has in fact worked for them :rotfl:

Ahem.

It does work fine, but only if they are from this country. As most supermarket ones are grown abroad, that's where the problem lies.

I grew 180 the year before last; mainly as 50 were a moon/non-moon trial and the latest to plant them for the best result is midwinter's day with a midsummer's day harvest. But I like to give mine a head start and take a fair few for green garlic from May onwards.

All my trial ones were bought from the local greengrocers; and the expensive ones I got from the Garlic Farm last year all got white rot whereas my 2nd generation from the local greengrocers didn't - so I'll just use my own saved ones now.

lizzyb1812

That's interesting about the imported/native garlic behaving differently.

I'll be saving some of mine to plant in October for next year's crop. The cost of bought in bulbs to plant is not really very money-saving in the first year but is completely free thereafter :T. I too have been pulling individual bulbs of green/wet garlic since late May.

marmiterulesok

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

Ahem.

It does work fine, but only if they are from this country. As most supermarket ones are grown abroad, that's where the problem lies.

I grew 180 the year before last; mainly as 50 were a moon/non-moon trial and the latest to plant them for the best result is midwinter's day with a midsummer's day harvest. But I like to give mine a head start and take a fair few for green garlic from May onwards.

All my trial ones were bought from the local greengrocers; and the expensive ones I got from the Garlic Farm last year all got white rot whereas my 2nd generation from the local greengrocers didn't - so I'll just use my own saved ones now.

I'll try and plant local bulbs then.Thanks!

Why_oh_why

lizzyb1812 wrote: »

Garlic needs a period of cold to germinate and bulb properly so plant it in October/November and forget about it until late June/July. And I've never heard of anyone having success with planting cloves from a supermarket bulb of garlic - they apparently sprout but don't form bulbs - cue lots of people saying this has in fact worked for them :rotfl:

sorry, I'll be one of the ones that can say I have planted loads of cloves over the years from supermarkets and had great success :rotfl: Although not sure what to expect this year as I planted them extremely late - they are performing as they usually do but probably expecting a massive clove instead of lots of little cloves