Silly garlic question!

[greengas]

Hi All
I am trying to work out how garlic develops under ground and I feel daft asking the question. I planted my garlic November and it is all growing away nicely, I have planted so much I was curious to see what stage it was at and pulled one out only to find what appears to be a very small root that did not look bulb shaped or remotely like a garlic. My question is at what stage does the bulb start forming? Thanks in advance for any replys.

[zazen999]

If you slice it horizontally, you will see tiny circles in the centre - they are forming right now! They just need more time to get bigger and separate.

[Shadylane]

I had a furtle around mine a while back as I was curious to see what was going on. The stems are chunky but could not find any bulbing yet. I think they put most of their bulb growth on during the final months.

[dawndaisy]

garlic bulbing

I accidentally pulled on of mine up this week, and found a 1.5'' bulb had formed already. These are from supermarket bulbs I didn't think would do too well. I used it in a sauce and it was mild but tasty.

I hope the rest keep growing till next month when they will need to be pulled to make room for other stuff. Last year my garlic was only as big as this in late June.
Dawndaisy x

[greengas]

Thanks all for your replies!

[gojiberry]

Most the bulb expansion happens on the last month or so. The same with the flavour, it intensifies once the bulb is lifted and sun dried.

Ian