quick question about garlic (MERGED)

kyh

Make sure you give each clove enough space to grow into a bulb so plant either 1 per pot or with a good 6 inches between each one. you will know when they are ready to harvest as the tops will start to die back. when they do lift them from the soil and allow to dry out in the sun for 24 hours. When you store them keep them somewhere cool and dry otherwise they will tyr and grow again. You can grow onions and shallots in the same way and at the same time. If you plant them in late autumn you should get a late spring early summer harvest, if you plant in spring you should get an autumn crop. Most garden centres will have spring onions and garlic sets in now or over the next couple of weeks.

Oscar

Just read this on another thread and it says plant out in March. Also says a bulb? Should it only be a clove?

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/herb_planner.asp

MONEYMAKINGMUM

Garlic does need cold to start it off so I tried this tip -
Last year I put garlic bulbs in fridge for 2 weeks then split and planted into soil. They all
grew great (the soggy summer finished most of them off though), hoping for better weather this year.

point3

If you still haven't planted your autumn planting garlic then it's not too late!

As suggested already, place it in the fridge for a week or 2 to expose it to the cold and encourage it to develop into separate cloves. I split my bulbs into individual cloves, chuck out the underdeveloped ones and place them into a shallow plastic tray (e.g. Tupperware). Sprinkle water over them and place a wet sheet of kitchen roll over the top. Place in the fridge for 1 week or more. I turned them every couple of days and made sure they were kept moist. After 1 week all the cloves had sprouted a shoot and had begun to put out roots and so were ready to plant outside. Mine will be ready late May, early June.

Zazen999

Oscar wrote: »

Just read this on another thread and it says plant out in March. Also says a bulb? Should it only be a clove?

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/herb_planner.asp

Hi
You can get different types, autumn planting and spring planting; I have another batch coming in March.

Basically, chuck them in if you still have them; you can grow garlic year round; if it hasn't split then you can use it still, an remember to put some in next midwinter's day - that is the traditional time for putting garlic out for the winter. It tkaes a few months to grow but I pick it early anyway.

NoahsPennilessMummy

Hi

Can anyone point me in the right direction for how to grow garlic?
Am sure I need to plant it now but not sure how.

many thanks
claire
:T

time_bandit

I read that you should plant it on the shortest day of the year and harvest it on the longest day. So the best time to plant will be mid/late December and it should be ready mid/late June.

However, this didn't stop me planting some about July time. I've pulled some of the garlic, the leaves had gone yellow which shows its ready to pick, but really it needed to grow for longer, the bulbs were quite small but tasted nice. I will try planting again at the end of the year.

The way to plant is take a bulb that has shoots on it, separate the cloves and then plant each one just beneath the surface of the soil. Well, this is what I did

tessie_bear

if u get a packet of seeds u might get advice on the planting dates etc

nodwah

You can get winter garlic for planting now, along with japanese onion sets. Thye will be ready to use late spring - earlier that normal ones. I bought some from an ebay shop but you can get them from the big seed catalogues.

edit : any garlic that's spouting in the fridge can be planted in a pot on the windowsill but they generally wil only produce one big clove not lots - don't know why that is

Zazen999

tessie_bear wrote: »

if u get a packet of seeds u might get advice on the planting dates etc

You can't grow garlic from seeds, unfortunately.

The reason that garlic planted on the windowsill will only produce one clove is that it needs frost/cold weather to know that it is growing new bulbs - rather than just an extension of growing before you separate it. All allium bulbs/cloves are stored energy and don't die like other veg will. You can take garlic and onions and leave for years, and they will sprout if you plant them again [provided they have not dried out or are diseased].

If you have cloves, or buy them, separate them out and plant them, pointy side upwards, about an inch deep in soil. It can be between now and the longest day [which is tradition], but I have shallots that were left behind last year and they have started sprouting now - so I'm taking that as a sign.