Supermarket Garlic Planted

[veg4681]

I've just planted garlic from Tesco (they didn't have the big pack though). As I was checking the planting guide from the internet, it says that for Autumn sowing, the supermarket variety is not ideal (but okay for Spring sowing) as they're not hardy enough. Should I be worried?
Or maybe at best, I may get an inferior quality and very small garlic.

[pigletwillie]

If the garlic is of British or French origin you should be ok. If its Spanish or from another mediteranean country you may struggle.

A problem with lots of supermarket alliums is that they are treated with a retardant that stops them from sprouting.

Alliums and spuds are two crops that can cause you lots of grief and disease if you get a it wrong.

[veg4681]

If the garlic is of British or French origin you should be ok. If its Spanish or from another mediteranean country you may struggle.

A problem with lots of supermarket alliums is that they are treated with a retardant that stops them from sprouting.

They're Spanish (Morado), Tesco kindly says so on the label. I could dig them out tomorrow but they are only 14 bulbs. I could leave them for trial.

[pigletwillie]

Did you plant the whole bulb or split it into cloves????

[Two_Sheds]

Apparently you can put in the whole bulb, not bother splitting into cloves ...

I'm no expert though, my garlic was pants again this year

[Snadger]

Doesn't matter if it runs to seed..........the seedheads and a small portion of stalk (what the heck do they call them again???) ahhh that's it.............. Garlic Scape are deemed a delicacy!

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/might...c_scape_1.html


PS The leek is a near relative so maybe leek 'scapes', or bolted leeks, mentioned on another thread could be used similarily?

[carlseawolf]

i planted tesco garlic last autum and they did fine , some bolted towards the end and a few small cloves but all made a bulb at harvest time. have resown the biggest cloves this year to get a free crop and a couple of them have started growing all ready.

[veg4681]

Did you plant the whole bulb or split it into cloves????

SORRY my mistake, I split into cloves...got mixed up with the words. Wow 14 bulbs, don't think I can afford that many.

I'll leave them there for a trial. 14 cloves aren't exactly going to break the bank.

[pigletwillie]

You have nothing at all to lose and potentially 14 fat bulbs to gain.

[rustylady]

I too have planted supermarket garlic, as I can't find any special growing ones locally this year. It can't possibly do any worse than the expensive ones I planted last year (or can it?)

[Two_Sheds]

I have just found some Solent Wight (proper planting) garlic on eBay. About £1 a bulb, but I can't get it locally. The postie will deliver it sometime this side of Xmas I believe

[rustylady]

Planted my supermarket garlic cloves in cell trays in the cold greenhouse and they are sprouting well. Wary of planting anything direct on the lottie now, cos it either gets eaten or dug up by the local cats etc. However, they will be planted on the lottie next weekend if the weather is OK.

[Sue]

Rustylady
I have problems with cats and foxes digging in newly prepared earth. When I planted my garlic, I laid two bits of an old clothes dryer over the top which has kept them off. As its a raised bed, the edges of the dryer are not resting on the earth so there's plenty of room for the garlic to grow to a good size before I take it off.
Sue

[rustylady]

Thanks, Sue. I'm trying to get borders round my beds, but it's a long job. I do have cloches, and some wire netting, but not enough. However, I will get there. And I have found that germination (sprouting) has been much better in the cell trays. Apart from things like radishes.