growing elephant garlic anyone ?

[momol]

Hello All,

I bought 5 elephant garlic cloves 2 days ago. Has anyone got success
with growing these garlic ? How big (tall) do they grow and how many cloves do you get per bulb ? What is their spacing requirement ?

Many thanks in advance .

[shirlthegirl43]

I have looked at it a few times but haven't yet bought any. Will watch this thread with interest and might give it a try depending on the responses you get momol.

[jacob marley]

You might be a bit to late for getting much of a crop this year if you plant them some times with late planting they grow in to a large single bulb i hope not but that what can happen you may be lucky and get away with it.
The amount of cloves that normaly grow is 6 on each plant but nice and big i hope this helps . jacob

[momol]

Will let you know how it goes Shirley.

Thanks Jacob, I only seen it now, it seems that they are treated as spring planting (I mean in NL). I don't mind if it don't split but if they do it will also be nice . I heard they don't keep well. Do you managed to save some of your harvest for next growing, Jacob ?

[jacob marley]

They are no problem to store you have to make sure to dry them of and keep them dry in a cool place i have some left i have kept them in cold greenhouse and they are keeping fine what i did was make a small frame out of wood and knocked a few nails in about 3 inches apart cut the foliage of bodged holes in the stalks and hung them on there for the winter .jacob

[Paul Wagland]

I found it very slow-growing compared to 'real' garlic - cloves planted (a bit late) last spring didn't crop at all, but I'm hoping they will take off this year.

[momol]

Many thanks for your precious info, Jacob . I have planted mine 2 days ago (immediately after buying them). Now just have to wait and see.
Do you harvest them like the garlic (such as wait till 2 pairs or more of its leaves turn yellow and dry) ? I space them like the garlic 15cm X 20cm, would the spacing be ok, Jacob ? Sorry for asking so much, elephant garlic is totally new to me .

[momol]

I found it very slow-growing compared to 'real' garlic - cloves planted (a bit late) last spring didn't crop at all, but I'm hoping they will take off this year.

When did you plant your Paul ? is it actually a winter planting ? if so I will use my save cloves for the October/november 2008 planting (if they produce any). What are their spacing requirement ?

[Paul Wagland]

I spaced them about 6in apart in a raised bed. I think they can be autumn or spring planted, but I was quite late last year, maybe April time. They put a few half-hearted leaves up, but nothing much. This year they are already looking stronger.

They were a Wilkos rescue job, so I guess I'm lucky they survived at all!

[vicky]

I've grown these for a few years, starting with 3 shop bought cloves, now I store enough of my own. I plant in spring (about 3 weeks ago) around 1/2 foot apart in a regular veggie bed and harvest same as normal garlic ie when the leaves start to die off. I get 4/5 BIG cloves per plant, sometimes just one massive clove (I tend to save the largest to plant the following year). I store them in a fruit bowl in the kitchen cos they look freaky! Or in the shed for replanting. This year I forgot about some that were stashed in a flower pot on the plot and they started to grow around 5 weeks ago and were planted with the rest. They grow a little taller than regular garlic and seem to have a tendancy to flower (which I snap off).
I have actually found them easier than normal garlic and more rewarding as they're so big!
Hope that helps!

[momol]

Many thanks Vicky and Paul, these are very valuable info that I need to start with my elephant garlic Hoeraaa I will surely sleep very tight tonight .
Again, thank you !!!

Nevi

[Curvy Vixen]

Gonna revive this thread a little.

I have 5 cloves planted amongst my flowers! They are about thigh high now but i noticed last night that one of them has a flower stalk with a closed flower bud at the top.

I have read conflicting advice on the net about letting them flower and others say snap them off. What do I do I'm happy to let them flower but not to the detriment of my (possible) garlic underneath..

[trebellangeminired]

I grew it last year from an autumn planting. They almost drowned thanks to the awful weather but harvested and dried well. I didn't plant any this year but plan to do so this autumn. I planted mine about 15-20cm apart with 30cm between rows. They grew to about 5ft tall and one flowered but other than that were okay and delicious!

[gojiberry]

Only grew them once, none if them split and I just ended up with a large single clove from each planting. Was not impressed with the flavour and could hardly tell it was a garlic. Only grow real garlic now.

Ian

[HappyMouffe]

I grew them for the first time last year - some of them started to produce flower stalks & I snapped them off.

I'm growing more this year - I loved them roasted whole in the oven in olive oil and then put the lovely gooey mix in all sorts of meals. I do like proper garlic but it tends to disagree with me, so elelphant garlic is a nice compromise.