why does my garlic look like it is ready?

[hadie.perkas@yahoo.co.uk]

I planted my garlic in november 20111. The tops have started to bend and go brown but I wouldn't think they would be ready yet. I did look underneath and apart from smelling like garlic they just look like really large spring onions!

So, my question is - when should the garlic be pulled?- how long do they take to mature? I planted them from bulb, not seed.

Thanks!

[rustylady]

Hi Hadie, welcome to the Vine. You don't say whereabouts you are, but this could have a bearing on your crops. Garlic is normally ready to be pulled around June time from a November-January planting. Makes me wonder why the tops are going brown. Where are they planted (pots or open ground)?

[jacob]

Yeah, I'd usually dig mine up sometime in July. The swelling bulb is the very last thing that garlic does.

I don't really like the sound of tops bending and going brown. I've never had the top bend over with garlic...

[Tripmeup]

Is it possibly what many others here have on occasion posted about...a yellowing rather than browning of the leaves...?? Might need some timely fertilizing....!!
If there is only a small bulb, obviously not ready yet...!!

[Two_Sheds]

Have you checked the leaves for pupa? (although it is a little early, they could possibly have leek moth or allium leaf miner attacking them).

As the others have said, garlic isn't mature until June


Oh, and you might want to change your username so it doesn't include your email address: otherwise you'll be getting all kinds of spam

[Farmer_Gyles]

my garlic always yellows and flops over .... thought that was normal!

[Alison]

my garlic always yellows and flops over .... thought that was normal!

Not this early in the year though

[Bexy]

I Had/Have the same problem mine are still going yellow even after a a good feed.

[Nik]

This happened to my garlic last year around this time - it was fine though. I just left them til June by which time they were all lying down. Might be something to do with not planting deep enough?

[Peas'n'Kews]

OK, now we get fernicetty (sp?)

We are in the process of moving to Devon, and we now have a provisional date - 15th June - yaaaayyyyy! (1.2 acres here we come!)

Anyway, and to the point, will my garlic and onions be ready for me to haul up and dry off in Devon or will i need to leave for the next people (who are lovely, and also growers)?

<More on the garden in Devon when it is a fait accompli>

[rustylady]

Hard to say, depends on the weather really. Good luck in Devon BTW.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Dunno, but if the new people are really nice, you may be able to persuade them to post on some of the mature bulbs.

[veggiechicken]

Here's my garlic, yellowing and browning of the leaves - but am I worried? Nope - don't even really like the stuff once I've grown it!!

[kathyd]

That's what mine looks like too VC - both the stuff I planted around easter last year (yup, still in the ground!), and the stuff I planted in autumn, and the stuff I planted this spring! Lol . Differing degrees of yellowing-ness to be fair, but all with at least some. I put it down to the erratic weather - drought and sunshine one minute (sitting outside in sleeveless t-shirts at end of March!!), and drenching rain / hail and frosts and icy winds the next (now that spring is meant to have arrived, naturally). If I don't get bulbs from them, I'm just going to eat them like garlicy spring onions. Oh, and feed some to the chickens of course .

[Farmer_Gyles]

Anyway, and to the point, will my garlic and onions be ready for me to haul up and dry off in Devon

i always pull up onions as i need them - there's no need (or any rules to say you have to) wait until september when the leaves fall over and you pull them up and dry them - if you pull them up just before you move, they'll be fine, just a bit smaller

garlic bulbs should have swollen by june so just pull them up when you're ready - if they're not very big (or haven't formed cloves), let them dry and replant them in october