Planting garlic.

[bramble]

Just wondering about this.
I bought some really big and healthy heads of garlic over the weekend with a view to planting it.
My question is it too early to plant.
Will it rot in the ground if I plant it to early.
If I keep it until later in the season to plant, how best to store it.

[Earthgirl Jen]

Bumping Bramble's thread as I'd like to know as well. I also have garlic which I'm debating whether to plant to not ...

[SalfordWhite]

Personally I would think it is too early to plant. Similar to Broad beans too much growth before the dormant season is not healthy for the plant.
It will be fine held as an unplanted bulb to be planted October/November.

[Tripmeup]

Personally I would think it is too early to plant. Similar to Broad beans too much growth before the dormant season is not healthy for the plant.
It will be fine held as an unplanted bulb to be planted October/November.

Personally I would hold onto it for a while and wait until Sept/Oct..

[Bill Door]

Well garlic naturally does not dig itself out of the ground and wait around until September so that it can burrow into the ground. That said I am not sure how the bulbs will develop. Someone could try putting a few cloves in the ground now and seeing what happens. Will mean a "feedback" on here. Unless someone has done it already (VC you dabble in this kind of thing have you any info to give us?)

Bill

[Earthgirl Jen]

Well garlic naturally does not dig itself out of the ground and wait around until September so that it can burrow into the ground. That said I am not sure how the bulbs will develop. Someone could try putting a few cloves in the ground now and seeing what happens. Will mean a "feedback" on here. Unless someone has done it already (VC you dabble in this kind of thing have you any info to give us?)

Bill

Bill I will give it a go as I have noting to lose. We seem to be back to our normal summer here on the coast x

[Jay-ell]

I have elephant garlic in the bed permenantly - although I haven't lifted the bulbs. It hans back uptil the weather gets cooler later on in the hear.

[Earthgirl Jen]

I have elephant garlic in the bed permenantly - although I haven't lifted the bulbs. It hans back uptil the weather gets cooler later on in the hear.

Sorry Jay-ell couldn't quite understand the end of your post? Autocorrect? Interested to learn...

[Jay-ell]

Fat thumbs - small keys.

It hangs back until the weather gets cooler later on in the year.

At the minute all you can see is the flowers on a few of them as the leaves all died back an the other bulbs are dormant.

I should start seeing the new growth between Sept and Nov

[Bill Door]

Thanks Earthgirl Jen. I will give it a go as well. It is raining here so can do it later. Only thing is I willl have to remember where I planted them. I suppose we should also record how deep and what we bury them with. I will try BFB and MPC and a depth of FTF. Anyone else willing to give it a go?

Bill

[Mark_Riga]

no idea what MPC and FTF are, is there a list of abbreviations used on site anywhere? I plant out garlic in late September when I remember about 2 to 3 inches deep.

[Bill Door]

Hi Mark Riga

BFB blood fish and bone
MPC mulitpurpose compost
FTF four thick fingers (my little joke, you have to find your own thick fingers!!)

Not sure if there is a list of other abbreviations.

TTFN (Jimmy Young)

Bill

[Kirk]

As said it doesn't dig itself out of the ground then hop back in later in the year.
However it has been dug up, dried and I suspect that if planted now it will go on a growth period which it had remained in the ground it would not do.

In effect planting it now could start it growing a bit too early.

Have to say have been wondering about just leaving some in the ground and seeing what happens. Mine was poorish again. The ones that grew best were planted in Spring and not the Autumn.

If you keep some for later then bottom of the fridge where it is coldest seems fine. even if they sprout it will just be a little and you eventually want them to sprout.

[Earthgirl Jen]

Fat thumbs - small keys.

It hangs back until the weather gets cooler later on in the year.

At the minute all you can see is the flowers on a few of them as the leaves all died back an the other bulbs are dormant.

I should start seeing the new growth between Sept and Nov

Thanks now makes sense x it's elephant garlic I also have given to me by a friend last year. I lifted them prob Aug 2017 as the leaves had died back. They weren't old enough to produce bulbs and as such just gave me larger bulbs/seeds? They didn't split into cloves. They are still sitting in a tray threatening to throw growth.

So I will plant some next week and see what happens.

[Bill Door]

I suspect Kirk is correct. However, five cloves have gone in the ground as I previously said. I will await developments and try to keep you all informed. The cloves were from three different heads that I grew this year.

Bill