Garlic

[Two_Sheds]

I'm not bothering with over-wintered garlic any more. It never does nowt for me. I spent £20 on "proper" garlic seed last year, and it was pants.

I'll put some supermarket cloves in the ground in April, see how that does.

[Newbie]

well mine still have not made an appearence so if they don't show up before my plot is re-jigged then i will be spring planting anyway!

[Wren]

Mine are going great guns with stems as thick as a pencil already and i only planted them 4 weeks ago !! somin will go wrong i am sure.

Wren

[Safhyre]

Well based on Wren's message, I can only assume mine have decided not to grow, as I planted them 6 weeks ago and even tho I havent a clue, I did think by now I should have seen something (

[butter fingers]

i planted some garlic in a pot and have only just got 3 or 4 poking up and i planted these at the start of the month. the ones in the plot are not up as yet. onions are about 6 inches high already planted at the same time.

[Snadger]

I'm not bothering with over-wintered garlic any more. It never does nowt for me. I spent £20 on "proper" garlic seed last year, and it was pants.

I'll put some supermarket cloves in the ground in April, see how that does.

I agree TS! it's a funny old thing garlic. I think I've only once had what I could call a really good crop..........and that was from Tesco's finest!

I have planted some GC bought garlic recently which is just poking it's head above ground now (Marco something or other methinks!) but I am never CONSISTENT with either spring or autumn planted varieties!

Something to keep me on my toes if nowt else!

[Farmer_Gyles]

i started my onion sets and garlic (from supermarket) earlier this month - all in 2" pots in greenhouse - onion shoots are 6" high, first few garlic cloves are starting to shoot

i start everything in pots / modules in the greenhouse - it gives everything a better chance of beating slug attack and means i plant 6" seedlings into clear weed-free ground, rather than sowing seeds and hoping to spot the seedlings among baby weeds

[crazy_red]

Hi All,


Reading this, do I take it that you can plant shop bought garlic (as in for cooking) and use it as sets?

Only I was told that you shouldn't use cooking garlic because it had viruses

Do you plant the whole bulbs, or do you break up the bulbs into cloves?

Where it mentions using damp paper to sprout veg seed, how exactly do you go about this.

I would be really greatful for a step-by-step description of the method, if someone who uses it has the time to pm me.

Ta muchly!

[Stacey Steve]

CR
"Shop" bought garlic MAY have viruses. However I look at it this way, if you were a commercial grower, you would be relying on good healthy garlic or you would not have the supermarkets buy it from you.

I got most of my garlic growing tips off the owner of the largest garlic farm on the IOW, when he was giving an interview on the radio. He sells most of his garlic to the French for consumption.

Now one of the largest suppliers of garlic for home growing is on the IOW and I think his garlic is disease free.

I took the chance and bought my garlic off the local greengrocer at a market 3 seasons back and have been propagating this each year.

He said that if you took any garlic and kept propagating it for 3 generations, then it would be perfectly suited to your soil type and location. Obviously like the commercial growers, if you do get diseased plants, then you have to take action.

My original stock was a Chinese garlic and it is doing great.

[nelliegemini]

Don't shout at me if you have already answered this, but wasn't there something about garlic and beans, or was it just broad beans. One inhibits the other but I can't remember which way round. I haven't planted my garlic yet, but we are mild here - where I want to put it is where borlotti/french beans were. If I haven't dreamt the whole thing, could it be that the garlic fails if planted where beans were?

[crazy_red]

Thanks Stacey Steve!

I'll bung it in then and try the three year cycle - nothing ventured nothing gained, eh?



Red x

[Demeter]

Do you plant the whole bulbs, or do you break up the bulbs into cloves?

Where it mentions using damp paper to sprout veg seed, how exactly do you go about this.

I would be really greatful for a step-by-step description of the method, if someone who uses it has the time to pm me.

Ta muchly!

You break it up into cloves. Plant them about 4" apart.

To sprout seed on damp paper (or a damp cloth, which is resusable!) just wet it and leave the seeds on the paper or cloth. Make sure the paper or cloth stays damp but not sopping. The seeds should sprout pretty quickly i.e. in a couple of days probably. If you are going to eat the sprouts, you need to rinse them at least once a day. If you are going to plant them, then don't bother. Some seeds sprout supposedly better in the dark but I don't know how critical that is to success...

[BrideXIII]

for garlic, I just buy a bulb, break it up into cloves, stand them flat end down on damp kitchen paper, within a day or three you should see the roots coming, then pot off into 2 inch pots or modules whatever you fancy, or indeed straight into the ground. Its just to get the roots started thats all.

[crazy_red]

for garlic, I just buy a bulb, break it up into cloves, stand them flat end down on damp kitchen paper, within a day or three you should see the roots coming, then pot off into 2 inch pots or modules whatever you fancy, or indeed straight into the ground. Its just to get the roots started thats all.

Sorry, Bride XIII, I just know this is going to sound like i'm, well, really, REALLY dim.....but i'm sitting here looking at a clove of garlic trying to work out what 'flat end down' means <blush>

Both my sons are in hysterics, having been watching me attempt to balance a garlic clove uprightfor the past thirty minutes......with little success.

Better than the x-box when i'm confused but determined, apparently...

Abandon hope......

[BrideXIII]

Sorry, Bride XIII, I just know this is going to sound like i'm, well, really, REALLY dim.....but i'm sitting here looking at a clove of garlic trying to work out what 'flat end down' means <blush>

Both my sons are in hysterics, having been watching me attempt to balance a garlic clove uprightfor the past thirty minutes......with little success.

Better than the x-box when i'm confused but determined, apparently...

Abandon hope......

LOL i wondered that when i wrote it.
the 'flat' end is the bit that breaks away from the base of the bulb, its sort of roughned, i call it the flat end