Garlic

[mrsflibble]

I planted outside in very early nov, sheltered spot with dappled light...when will it be ready?
I dug one up to check its progress and it just looked like a spring onion. am I missing something? is there anything I can do?

thanks!

[ina]

Patience, patience.... Late summer, I'd say.

[Andy Hamilton]

Yep, just wait. The foliage will die down and turn yellow to let you know they are ready. Just make sure they get plenty of water and keep the weeds around them down.

[Marc]

yep, could be usable in July if you're lucky.

Planting in autumn won't mean they are ready much earlier, although they should be bigger :-)

[red]

i planted some in march last year.. they worked out ok.. only recently finihed them - this year we did some in Nov and in Mar - the spring ones are catching up with the autumn ones..
big advantage to Nov planting is the jackdaws dont pull them up...

[Cheezy]

Old old addage is plant out on the shortest day and they will be ready on the longest day!.

[SarahJane]

Funnily enough I have just got in from work and been looking at my Garlic which seems to be growing well in individual pots after planting a little on the late side. It is still in the (cold) greenhouse. Can I now plant it outside in large troughs, even though we are still getting keen frosts some mornings and a quick flurry of snow earlier today? Or, should I leave it where it is for the time being?

[Marc]

Plant it out I should say SJ so it can get it's roots into more soil. Garlic is good and hardy anyway.

Marc :-)

[SarahJane]

Thanks Marc, I will do it today if and when the weather brightens up! Every time I get ready to go outside it starts hailing or chucking it down with rain!
At least with them outside, it leaves me lots more room to start growing some other stuff!

[MKG]

Two things about garlic:

Garlic, according to folk knowledge, won't divide (bulbs into cloves) unless it's been hit by several degrees of frost - hence planting out in autumn. I don't know how true this is generally, but I do know that I've planted garlic in spring and harvested undivided bulbs. No cloves - but the stuff took off the back of my head. Wonderful!

The other thing is ...damn. Senior moment!!!! I cannot for the life of me remember what I was going to say. Probably a result of eating garlic planted in the spring.

[Meredith]

I will second the patience.

Give it time, when the foilage dies back it is ready. Who knows when that will be???

Meredith

[MINESAPINT]

Garlic is one of my successes. I always save some of my own cloves from previous crop. This I understand creates a strain suited to the climate in my area. (North Yorkshire). I plant in September/October as I understand they need frost. At the moment I have about 200 cloves I planted last September and as an experiment I planted 50 in February. All are looking OK.

Ref harvest. If you leave your bulbs in the ground too long into the autumn you will find the white outer skin will have rotted away and your cloves will be dirty. I have read recently (HDRA Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening) that you should cut the tops down a couple of weeks before harvest as it encourages the bulbs to grow.

I will try and remember to report on my experiment ref autumn/spring planting but much like the originator of this thread you will have to be patient!

MINESAPINT

[Cheezy]

Two things about garlic:

Garlic, according to folk knowledge, won't divide (bulbs into cloves) unless it's been hit by several degrees of frost - hence planting out in autumn. I don't know how true this is generally, but I do know that I've planted garlic in spring and harvested undivided bulbs.

Tis true, especially on hard neck varieties. If you leave the "mono" bulb in for next season you get a cracking bulb very early on in the season.

Minesapint: 200 cloves=200 bulbs OMG, thats what the smell is as I travel past north yorks !

(thats 3.8 bulbs a week jeez! not even I eat that much garlic, and I use it in most things I cook)

[mrsflibble]

thanks for the input everyone. I'mincredibly impatient.

[ina]

thanks for the input everyone. I'mincredibly impatient.

You just love garlic!