Another garlic question.

[SarahJane]

I have just had a look at the garlic I sowed in the autumn, and a couple of the bottom leaves are starting to go brown. Any ideas when this will be ready to harvest? I am sure I planted it the 1st or 2nd week in November.

[SarahJane]

What about the garlic I planted in Feb/March then?

Although I do have to say, they are nearly all the same height tbh.

[SarahJane]

Well I have done both so I shall call it an "experiment" and see what happens. lol.

[Millymollymandy]

The tips of the leaves on all mine are going brown. I shall have to have a little dig around and see what's happening, cos I left them too long last year and they had gone too far over by 1st week of July.

[SarahJane]

I might have a little dig about and see what is going on underneath the surface.
Lat year I think I dug them up a little too early as they were quite small, although they dried out well and I am still using them , they taste good.
What are the signs that you have left thm too long?
(I have def grown enough for at least a year, if they are all good when I harvest them!!)

[Millymollymandy]

Last year mine were still edible, but the outer skins of the bulb had started rotting, or something, and there was a sort of mouldy film on the outside of all the cloves that had been touching the soil, so I had to actually cut it off. The rest of the clove was still OK, but I'd certainly missed the lovely fresh 'wet' garlic. It wasn't wet weather conditions either at that time.

I had a dig around yesterday but I can't see any swelling at the base of the stems, although some of the stems are about 1" diameter and some are much smaller. It's just ordinary old supermarket garlic so I never expect anything fantastic so whatever I get is a bonus!

Irritatingly I've only ever seen garlic cloves for planting in garden centres in the spring, not the autumn.

P.S. I may be south but this year England in April (Somerset, Notts and points in between) was slightly ahead of here in terms of spring. Berkshire was weeks ahead of here - and so much milder! as could be seen from 4 foot high hydrangeas with flower buds on, whereas mine are just frosted brown stalks and half dead looking.

[pumpy]

I imagine if you leave them in too long the foliage starts to go yellow and wilt, much like onions

I always leave ours 'til the foliage turns brown & folds over, as with the onions, before i pull 'em. We always grow ours from shop-bought bulbs, which we stick in a dark cupboard in about November, leave to "chit" like a spud, split 'em & chuck 'em in the ground just under the surface...... shortest day as good a time as any. They always seem to turn out good, if a little on the smallish side, but plenty of flavour!

[jim]

8 years ago I bought a couple of bulbs of Isle of Wight garlic from the local farmers market, thinking that soil and climate are roughly similar to South Hampshire. I planted the cloves in November and harvested when the stems went over - like onions. Every year since then I've kept the three biggest bulbs and planted them each November, the same time as broad beans, and we have had enough garlic for a year. Touch wood, no problems. I have heard that garlic needs a bit of frost to make it form seperate cloves otherwise it just goes into one big one.

Love and Peace
Jim