Garlic - Solent Wight

[ChingfordHarry]

Hi

I've been growing garlic for a few years. I plant out the cloves in my heavy London clay soil at the end of October or first week in November. The Extra Early Wight and Purple Wight give me decent-sized bulbs, but the Solent Wight bulbs (and cloves...) are a fraction of the size, and the plants grow very weakly.

would it be worth starting off the Solent Wight in 3" pots in potting compost (or another mix) a bit earlier and then transferring to the ground a bit later, to get some growth going first? Or do I just need to grow them in a lighter soil? Or is there another way (I don't want to grow them from start to finish in pots because I've got enough container plants to keep me very busy as it is!)?

[Mr Bones]

If you get good results would it not be simpler just to grow Extra Early and Purple Wight? Is there a specific reason you want to grow Solent as well.

[ChingfordHarry]

Solent Wight is ready a bit later and lasts a bit longer (the Early Purple Wight doesn't keep much beyond Christmas, and the Extra Early doesn't keep well after Easter). I'm still eating the Solent Wight from last year by cutting down on my garlic consumption, but it would be great to have enough so I didn't need to be quite so economical. Plus it tastes good...

[ameno]

If the plants are consistently small, have you considered simply growing more of it in the same space by growing the plants close together?
If the plants are that weak then they probably won't actually be harmed by growing them closer together, so in theory you'll get the same size bulbs as you always do, but more of them from the same space.
I think it may be worth experimenting with, at least. Maybe next year do half at your normal spacing and half a bit closer, and see what the difference in yield is.