Moving garlic

[SimpleSimon]

Afternoon.

I have very heavy soil so over wintered Garlic has always struggled. This year I planted it in my tunnel, and because the supplier sent me double the amount of bulbs I ordered, I planted too much.

Its doing really well though its not been very cold. Hopefully the bulbs form fine. In any case, I want the space back and probably way before its fully ready. It was planted October.

How sensitive is it to being in moved in maybe early march or late feb? I don't mind moving a fair bit of soil around the roots as to not disturb them as much as possible. But I don't want to kill it all.

Ta,
Simon

[Mark_Riga]

I would have thought the sooner you move it now the better while it is only growing slowly. Frosts are forecast where I am for the next few days so i would probably wait till it gets milder as it might be a bit of a shock after the polytunnel. I moved some a couple of weeks ago but it was already outside.

[Jungle Jane]

What do you want the space back for because a lot can be grown in pots & potted on until the space is ready? Would you leave a small amount there & move some of it,so some is undisturbed?

[Jimny14]

Oooohhh, this sounds like a good experiment. Half of what you planted is free, so you could do a trial maybe? I'd do all of these with big lumps of soil to reduce root disturbance (no science behind that just reckon they'd prefer it)
1 move some now, straight outside
2 some in to pots (minimise root disturbance) and move em out during the day and back to the tunnel at night to harden off before planting out later (pick your time frame, you could do several)
3 leave em in the poly

Experiment and see what works best for your conditions, you could end up with a very efficient program for growing your garlic in time. Enjoy!

[SimpleSimon]

What do you want the space back for because a lot can be grown in pots & potted on until the space is ready? Would you leave a small amount there & move some of it,so some is undisturbed?

It's quite a bit of space. I had mistakenly thought it would be ready by may in the tunnel was recently told it would more like June / July. Which means I'll defo want the space. I planted absolutely loads as I ordered a autumn planting pack from Sutton's and they sent me a box full. About 12 bulbs, most of them pretty big. I gave some away but planted the vast majority of it! I could probably experiment and just move some as a few losses won't hurt. Not even I need 120 garlic bulbs though I do absolutely love the stuff. Growing my own garlic was actually one of the reasons I took on an allotement. Admittedly things have spiralled out of control from there haha.

[cptncrackoff]

Hi, as others have said I would have thought as soon as possible if you absolutely have to move it..

I would prefer not to if possible, I had garlic and Elephant garlic in MFB 's and then planted to raised beds- they didnt do as well as bulbs planted direct!

[Scarlet]

I think it will be too late, not only is it mild you have it undercover. I would leave it in situ and dig it up at the end of May.

What are you wanting the space for? Can you dig up some, use them green and plant your new seedling inbetween.

[Aberdeenplotter]

move it into pots now and water in well. Keep the pots under cover as long as you can and then gradually harden the plants off and plant out in a mild spell.

[SimpleSimon]

Need the bed for aubergines, beans and a climbing corgette. I want some early beans so mainly need some space for those. At least that's the plan. I'll probably change my mind tomorrow.

[Scarlet]

I wouldn't bother growing any courgette inside? Others may disagree.
Early beans are so small in May that you can interplant - I do that in my greenhouse.
I don't grow Aubergines - but as a whole most plants in May are small so you should be able to interplant. ........... unless of course you are one of those neat freaks and it all has to look pretty

[greenishfing]

I wouldn't waste indoor space on courgettes either and I only plant aubergines out at the end of May beginning of June. They are still small then.
But are the garlic going to get a good enough cold spell in the tunnel?

[SimpleSimon]

I wouldn't bother growing any courgette inside? Others may disagree.
Early beans are so small in May that you can interplant - I do that in my greenhouse.
I don't grow Aubergines - but as a whole most plants in May are small so you should be able to interplant. ........... unless of course you are one of those neat freaks and it all has to look pretty

Well I'm defo not a neat freak but the bed would need prepping for the more thirsty plants in spring. Just gonna move half and leave half. If it fails then it still can't be as bad as last year when I lost about 80 % of my garlic in June when it hammered it down constantly

[Scarlet]

They love water the month before picking so was that really your issue?