GYO would like your advice on

[pigletwillie]

The GYO editorial team would like your advice on growing Green garlic.

As always the top tips will go into the magazine (March issue).

Are you an autumn or spring planter, plant named varieties or supermarket specials, do you feed or not, let us know.

[Hazel at the Hill]

...er.... green garlic?

[lainey lou]

my thoughts exactly Hazel, thought I was being a bit thick?

[Winged one]

garlic as a green manure perhaps??

[Cutecumber]

Fresh garlic (immature). Not dried and stored.

Hard-neck varieties are usually the ones that are used as they don't store for as long as the others.

At least, I think that's what he means

[piskieinboots]

green as in 'snowdrops in the green'?

[Flummery]

It's garlic picked when it's ready but not dried off. I've always known it as 'wet' garlic.

[lainey lou]

Surely its grown in the same way as garlic you're gonna store?

[Flummery]

Yep, I reckon. (unless we're missing something essential?)

[seasprout]

Garlic....Bread.?

[Hole Digger]

It's garlic picked when it's ready but not dried off. I've always known it as 'wet' garlic.

I`ve got white& red tinted garlic

[SarzWix]

I don't grow green/wet/hardneck garlic, I want my garlic to store really, so I go for softneck varieties. This year I'm growing Cristo, which can be planted autumn or spring. I planted half of it last month and I'll plant the other half in February, hopefully staggering the harvest and therefore the storage period?! A bit of an experiment.

[Birdie Wife]

I have to grow hardneck varieties because the growing season up here is quite short over the summer and softnecks are supposed to be less hardy than hardnecks. I think if I planted softneck up here at the usual time, ie late autumn, they wouldn't be hardy enough to last. Though if there's a softneck variety out there that can stand hard frosts I'd be pleased to hear about it! I do love garlic and some of the varieties that are coming out now look mighty tasty. I grew porcelain garlic from the Really Garlicky Company last year (shop-bought, the RGC don't do planting garlic yet) and it produced gorgeous big fat cloves, perfect for roasting. It tasted fantastic green too. I don't think I'd grow a specific variety for green garlic now, having tasted it - I want my garlic to have the best of both worlds!

[moggssue]

Just goes to show - I thought garlic was just garlic!! I love the stuff but mine didnt grow this year so I'm not going to be adding any top tips!! Interested to learn more tho.....

[Protea]

The early purple wight garlic i grow is a 'green' garlic, although it does store for a while (it takes me ages to get through all of it!). After 2 years of trying different garlics its the one that does best on my heavy, wet Bedfordshire soil. As its 'early' its ready in May, a bit sooner than the main crops in June, although this does depend on when i've planted it! It grows to a good size with fat juicy bulbs.

I've just planted my 2008 crop of early purple and also albigensian wight, another purple one that does well (its a soft neck though and ready in June).

I do find that all my garlic suffers from rust from late spring onwards, but it doesn't seem to affect the eating or storing of them. As the weather starts to warm up and things start growing again i give them a spray of seaweed which really perks them up - greens the leaves up and they looked much healthier, especially after the gale force winds we'd had earlier this year!