garlic

[SarahJane]

Well I lifted my garlic and although a little on the small side they are perfectly formed. So I am quite pleased with them, I had visions of digging up and them be all mushy and soft with all the rain we have had. They are now washed and lying on a tray to dry out a little. I am going to give this plaiting a try.

[red]

dug the last of ours today, as it goes we tried autumn and spring planting, and some went in a bed previously laced with rotted horse muck, while the others had to manage..

predictably, the autumn planted, horse much fed ones were the best

[Millymollymandy]

Mine were left in too long and have a bit of mould on the clove which I have to cut off. They appeared to be not quite ready in June but then I went on holiday and when I came back early July they were dried up to a crisp and gone mouldy on the skins! Still good though despite that.

[JR]

Lifted the last of ours this week too, very pleased with the crop, just ordered bulbs for next year for October delivery!

[sleepyowl]

I do need to lift mine as the tops have disapeared off them (probably the slugs & snails again)

[Kitty Ballistic]

Mine looked like tiny onions, with the exception of one bulb that look vaguely garlicky:

[DominicJ]

Ate my first one over the weekend.

Top had died so I dug it out, sadly had no outer "paper" cover.
Had it in a bolognese, lovely.

[Big Al]

I read a magazine called the home farmer. Really good mag by the way but this month they have an offer on from the Garlic farm www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk in where if I order the special selection of bulbs for £22.50 and I put in the promotion code HFA I can get free uk and ireland postage worth £4.75.... so I have......

[Cheezy]

Mine looked like tiny onions, with the exception of one bulb that look vaguely garlicky:

That usually happens if they haven't had exposure to cold. If they don't they will not develop cloves. Hence why it's best to sow in Nov/Dec.

Don't worry though, if you want you can re plant these "giant" cloves in Nov/Dec and you should get a really good bulb next year.

If you forget to plant the garlic out until spring, you can put the garlic in the fridge for a week or so prior to sowing to replicate the cold.

I bought seed bulbs (they are guarenteed disease free) a few years ago, now I make sure I keep back enough bulbs (usually 4 of white soft neck (better keepers for the tail of the garlic year ie June/July)and 4 of purple hard neck (bigger bulbs) )to provide me with garlic for all the next year. It is the only thing I am actually self sufficient in

Another tip, I used to keep my garlic in onion bags in the garage. But the garage is suseptable to the cold, this as well as encouraging bulb division also encourages sprouting of the bulb when the weather warms up. So you need a cool, dark place to store that doesn't get too cold, than you will get good storage.