garlic sowing question

[Seamus]

hi all, am goin to plant some garlic this wkend, should i put some fertiliser in wit it , r should i leave it till next year ? also i want to grow it organicaly, so wat will i add 2 it, ps i grew it this year witout adding anything and it was a disaster !!!!

[zazen999]

I don't add anything to mine, and last year had more Garlic than I know what to do with.

[Jeanied]

Hi Seamus - how was it a disaster? Did it just not grow or did it grow and then rot off, or did it grow but only small? Different issue each time - from water levels, onion rot and not enough food. What is your soil like?

[Seamus]

hi there, my problem with it was that it didnt grow very big, was sown in november, maybe i was amonth to late ?

[kate&rob]

i didn't add anything to mine either and had a very good crop, however, i can't find it anywhere now, i know i left it in the garage but it's not there now, suspect OH has put it in the compost at lottie! not a happy bunny!

[Jeanied]

I think the idea of autumn sowing is to get it established before it has a period of cold. Mine has been in for a while but I think I put it in too early. How about putting some fish, blood and bonemeal feed (fairly slow release) into the plot and planting your cloves now? Then next spring make sure they don't lack feed or water or get overgrown. Mine never get as far as storing - my friends love green garlic and I use it as fast as I harvest.

[Florence Fennel]

I don't add anything to mine, and last year had more Garlic than I know what to do with.

You could have sent it to me Zazen, can't get enough of it. It's one of the veg I'll be planting 3 times more of this year!

[zazen999]

It won't go to waste FF: I did grow about 180 bulbs last year - 50 of them for the garlic moon trial.

I've already sown about 50 and I'm putting a few in each week between now and the solstice as I love the early ones for green garlic.

[Florence Fennel]

It won't go to waste FF: I did grow about 180 bulbs last year - 50 of them for the garlic moon trial.

I've already sown about 50 and I'm putting a few in each week between now and the solstice as I love the early ones for green garlic.

I'd love to have the space to grow as many as that. Do onions and garlic do well in containers, e.g. flower buckets or troughs? I have emptied the summer bedding so have some troughs I could use rather than letting them sit idly in the shed.

[zazen999]

I'd love to have the space to grow as many as that. Do onions and garlic do well in containers, e.g. flower buckets or troughs? I have emptied the summer bedding so have some troughs I could use rather than letting them sit idly in the shed.

They will grow more than being in that shed all winter

[ladylottie]

I think the idea of autumn sowing is to get it established before it has a period of cold. Mine has been in for a while but I think I put it in too early. How about putting some fish, blood and bonemeal feed (fairly slow release) into the plot and planting your cloves now? Then next spring make sure they don't lack feed or water or get overgrown. Mine never get as far as storing - my friends love green garlic and I use it as fast as I harvest.

Hi, I have two big bulbs of Solent White garlic and I was going to plant them either at the end of October or early November but just noticed that on the packaging it says to plant in January. Should I wait that long do you think?

[Jeanied]

Hi LL - I would give it a go - reading through the garlic posts I think it's a free for all! Grapes are putting them in now and ignoring the instructions! Intrigued by all the grapes who just grew what was in the kitchen - I always thought you'd need a special garlic for the British climate! I just weeded my patch today and they have really sprouted well so fingers crossed! (I can always fleece if it gets really cold) Earlier this year I found some single tiny cloves - pink skinned growing from some left in by mistake over the winter - planted those up and they made big fat single clove bulbs - they were the best!

[snakeshack]

bought the garlic lovers pack from the garlic farm last year,and planted the lot,some varieties did better than others and I have saved the best 5 bulbs and replanted them today.
natural selection at its best I hope

[zazen999]

Hi LL - I would give it a go - reading through the garlic posts I think it's a free for all! Grapes are putting them in now and ignoring the instructions!

I did a garlic trial last winter, sowing 5 every few weeks between sept and jan.

The best result came from sowing on the Winter Solstice and harvesting on the Summer Solstice; any that were sown earlier were ready earlier but still needed more than the specified 6 months in the ground.

I grow lots so that as of March, I can start taking the earlier sown garlic out as wet garlic and using the whole undeveloped bulb in my cooking.

I'm trying this year by choosing 5 small cloves and 5 big ones - they say that you get different results depending on the clove size - bigger doesn't always mean the biggest final cloves; so I'll report back after the Summer Solstice on what happened. Last year, my smallest clove going in ended up being the biggest bulb coming out - which I need to know whether it is an oddity or whether we should all be planting smaller cloves to begin with.

[Snadger]

......................... Last year, my smallest clove going in ended up being the biggest bulb coming out - which I need to know whether it is an oddity or whether we should all be planting smaller cloves to begin with.

As garlic is similar in growth habit to shallots, where big=little and vice versa you may be correct in your assumption!