elephant garlic

[lottie dolly]

I have 3 cloves of the above,it says to plant them 1in deep and 4in apart,is this usuall,only my thought are that as ordinary galic and onions have a bigger spacing,and these are a lot bigger,i thought 4in to close,it also says bulbs not to be eaten ,i presume they have been treated with something,they are not cheap at £2.99 for 3,but wanted to try some,
also about how tall do they grow,and about how many cloves are they likely to split into,
gratefull for any advice

[realfood]

I would say that they should be planted about 20 cm apart. They grow to about 1.5 m high, including the very pretty seed head. For the biggest crop you should remove the flower bud as soon as it appears. As you are only planting them now, it is quite possible that they will form one large round rather than split into 5 or 6 cloves. I plant mine in October.

[allotmentlady]

Well I grew some last year, best to put in 5 inches apart in October but you put it in now. Yu can eat it, its not as strong as most garlic, but lovely on salads... but do space it apart, its amazing how one clove grows so big!!! Let them dry out extra too....

[snakeshack]

they require a period of cold to split into multiple cloves which is why you just get one big clove if you plant when its warmed up in spring.....


no problems there then!

[lottie dolly]

thank you people,much gratitude,i thought 4in was far to close,

[Eyren]

My garlic's going in this weekend - last year my purple hardnecks (the varieties that need the cold most) went into the raised beds on Feb 17th and they all split into cloves, so it's definitely not too late. Got a few nice big bulbs, too, despite the rubbish summer:

Garlic-drying - Stage 2 (Small Plot? No Problem!)

[realfood]

This is a quote from my website based on my experience of growing elephant garlic for some seven or eight years now.
Some rounds of Elephant Garlic do not split into cloves. From my observations, the likely reasons for this are starting with very small cloves, planting them too late or transplanting them and checking their growth. Others have suggested that it is due to a lack of growing in soil below 10 C for a month. However, there is a more than ample period of growing in cold soil in Glasgow, so this is unlikely to be the real reason.

If rounds are dried off at the end of the growing season and replanted for growing the following year, they will produce extra large cloves.

[dammad49]

Congrats on a good decision to try elephant. Realfood is spot on with info. Just wish I could get £1.99 for 3 cloves. Planted about 250 last October and still got a couple of big buckets full left, tips are just starting to show but a root system I accidentally dug up when chasing a parsnip was enormous. Its a vastly under-rated vegetable, used as garlic its rubbish but roasted whole, pickled, sliced & stir fried, shaved into salad, chunks in curries, deep fried in batter, etc..etc it's brill.

[realfood]

Quite agree with dammad49 for suggestions for cooking elephant garlic. It is so useful and tasty.
I find that they store better than any other allium. I have used cloves when they are well over a year old, and they are still viable for planting!!
I have seen them on sale at farmer's markets at £1 a clove.

[Nicos]

I grew it one year- and it didn't split cos I planted it in a mild spring
Sooo...we left it to overwinter for a second time and it grew a treat!!!!
Lovely flavour too!

Fingers crossed for you that you have another cold snap.
I think our were about 8" apart.

[gojiberry]

Only grew elephant garlic once and was really disappointed with it. Will stick with the real thing in future. I grow both autumn and spring planted. The autumn goes straight out into the lottie and the spring is started off in pots, usually at the start of Feb.


Ian

[lottie dolly]

thank you for your further replies,especially dammad49 for cooking suggestions,i am loving the idea of trying them roasted,along with other root veg and squash,mmmm,tasty,no meat needed,yum yum,come to my tum,is my moto,lol,
the ones i got were as good as £1 each,however,thompson & morgan have some,12 cloves for 6.99,so as i have a £10 voucher to spend before june,i will have to give them a ring and see if i can use it to buy some,and also other seeds,depending on what postage is going to be,