Growing Garlic

[Odsox]

I learnt 2 lessons this year about growing garlic.
Up until now I have always just planted garlic that I bought in the supermarket, and they have always grown in a fashion, but always a bit on the small side.
This year I bought some from a garden centre and planted most of them outside and just for an experiment as I had 6 cloves left over, I planted some in the polytunnel.
Well, I can report that it is well worth growing them in the polytunnel if you have room as they have grown about double the size of the outdoor ones, which in themselves are quite respectable.

Here is a photo of the tunnel plants in February looking very much like leeks ...........

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And this is what they look like this morning.
The one at the front right is one that I just dug up from the garden as comparison and is still green ... that one is destined to be in creamy garlic potatoes for dinner tonight with the cream left over from Saturday's shellfish chowder.
The coin is a Euro for scale.

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I am rather pleased with the results and I hope saved cloves from this harvest will produce the same results next year.
Oh, and the reason for only five tunnel grown ones in the photo is because the sixth was eaten ages ago as really wet garlic (yum)

[Millymollymandy]

Looks good! I just dug mine up the other day and plaited them for the first time - hope they dry OK like that. I only ever use supermarket garlic cloves because you can't get anything else here, at least not in the autumn.

[Millymollymandy]

Susie - I have no idea, but they wouldn't be pliable for plaiting if they were dry. I just did it because it takes up less space. I thought I was being clever, and a bit French.

Please someone tell me if I'm wrong!!!

[Odsox]

Please someone tell me if I'm wrong!!!

I wouldn't dare
We always freeze ours, cloves separated and peeled, in a plastic box.
It makes it easy to get a clove and you can slice them even when they are frozen solid.

That's the problem with living here with the humid atmosphere and lack of cold makes everything sprout when they should be hibernating.
Maincrop potatoes sprout before Christmas and have to be kept in a fridge, and most years peas sprout when they are still in the pod.

[Millymollymandy]

Is it just as good as fresh Tony? I might try doing that with the really nice fresh stuff as it does start sprouting by Xmas time, but then all the supermarket garlic is like that from winter through to new season garlic too - I have to always cut out the green sprouting bits in the middle.

[Odsox]

Is it just as good as fresh Tony?

I think it's better than fresh as they retain their nice "just harvested" taste.
Unlike stored garlic which I think take on an unpleasant hard flavour after a while.

[Millymollymandy]

Cor that's posh! How do you plait more than 3 together? I just did 3 garlics bulbs as that's how I used to plait hair and then was left with 2 bulbs which I just sort of twisted together.

[eccentric_emma]

I just harvested about 20 garlic bulbs so have plaiting them to look forward to once they are dried out properly!

Where is best to store them? Somewhere cool presumably?

[red]

i dug my garlic the other day too.. they are drying out now. Last year i plaited them after they dried using these instructions, from someone on here.

something I learnt this year is adding lots of compost to the bed before planting makes them grow lots bigger, they are so much better than previous years.

[Millymollymandy]

So do you reckon it is best to dry them horizontally then? The ones in the blog instructions have got very long stems compared to mine - but good instructions on how to plait them properly!

[Millymollymandy]

How come they are so clean and there's no yellowing of the stalks and leaves??? Or have you pulled all those bits off? Mine look a right filthy old dried out mess compared to that. But then they are hanging in the potting shed/boiler room so it doesn't matter if the bits drop on the floor!

[Millymollymandy]

Oh shucks!

[Cassiepod]

I'm lookign forward to trying this. Thanks for the link red the instrucation are very clear! I had abandoned my garlic, they didn't sprout as quick as the onions and I assumed all was lost. Iwent to look at the (overgrown) onion bed last weekend and about half of them had sportued after all. I don't htink it''ll be a mega crop, but better than nothing The onions are looking fabulos too. I gave them a weed and might even give them a feed if I'm felling really generous this weekend.

[Derry]

i am absolutely in awe of your garlic growing skills.. all of you!

first time we've grown any this year, and we did them at completely the wrong time.. the ones that were put in the garden were eaten/have all rotted =[ but we've got some more in the greenhouse with stalks about 6 inches high...

[eccentric_emma]

Thanks for those plaiting instructions I will be trying those this weekend. I have so much garlic - will upload a photo soon. Reckon we have about a years worth! My garlic just seemed desperate to do well this year, we had self seeded garlic all over the allotment from last years crop which barely grew, and garlic seems to have sprouted in the oddest places! And even a garlic grew when I planted the clove upside down - it just made an odd shaped bulb! Must have been my year for it.