Garlic

[Small pumpkin]

This has probably been ask hundreds of times before so I apologise in advance.

I've never had much luck with garlic. Either it's not grown, rotted or tiny bulbs that haven't split.
So this year I'm going to have another go. I was going to plant them in bottomless 1lt pot sat on the raised bed ( pots slightly pushed into the bed ) , because I believe they don't like sitting in very soggy ground ( who does ).
Then what ?
I need to know everything because I'm obviously missing something about garlic growing .

[Snoop Puss]

One thing you could do is start them off in modules under cover (out of the worst of the frost but not heated) and then plant them out a bit later, once they've got going and ground conditions are a bit better.

I don't know how soggy your ground is, but they don't mind fairly wet ground. I'm not sure that your proposed method will help that much in any event, as the compost/soil in the pot might wick the moisture up to a degree. In addition, depending on your conditions, any cloves will be more exposed to cold coming in from the sides of the pot than they would be if they were properly underground.

Have you got bulbs for growing from or do you just use supermarket garlic? In my experience, supermarket garlic doesn't do well. I've been told it's treated in some way precisely to stop it trying to grow.

Edited to add: once I've planted my garlic cloves, I tend to just leave them be. I dust with hardwood ash every now and then (good for P and K and helps to combat rust), feed if I think they might benefit, water as and when required, and try and keep the weeds down.

[monkeyboy]

I'm trying to grow garlic for the first time. I chitted about eight cloves in October which I planted and the shoots are now about a foot tall. I planted another four cloves that I tried chitting for a few days, got bored and planted anyway in December. The shoots are about an inch tall, if that.

[bazzaboy]

Depends on the cloves you're using, SP. For years I grew inadequate garlic because it was coming from the South and expecting Mediteranean conditions..... Then I discovered Scottish "porcelain" garlic which is more than used to chillier temperatures and I've had success ever since. There's a great company near Inverness that can supply a porcelain garlic:
Home, Really Garlicky Garlic, Scottish Garlic, Garlic bread -The Really Garlicky Company 01667 452193
Recommended.

[Jungle Jane]

Try about three different varieties some do better than others. I think garlic needs the cold to split into cloves? If your garlics contained within the pot,will it not grow as wide as it would do in the ground (on a mounded bit of land so it dries out quicker) would the garlic sense it doesn't have much space in the pot,like if you sow carrot seeds too close together you get tiny carrots?

[rary]

This will be my third year of growing garlic, the first year I planted the cloves (soft neck) at the beginning of March, into the soil of my raised bed poor results the second year I planted the cloves (hard neck) the second week of October,into large pots with a soil, compost and course sand mix and I got a reasonable harvest, so this year again I am using pots with the same mix,( should have added I mix a pinch of 6X into the top 2/3 inches of the soil two weeks or so prior to planting ) and I planted out soft neck garlic the last week in September, I have a garlic bulb, purchased from a farm shop in Penrith, along with three or four cloves from las year, which I will plant out in March.

[bramble]

I usually start mine off in modules and then plant them out when they have shown some shoots.
I start mine off in October and have had good results.
I make a bit of a raised drill to keep the worst of the moisture away from them.

[Small pumpkin]

Great link bazzaboy Thanks.

I know I'm a bit late and Autumn planted garlic generally does better. I must also confess that garlic I've tried in the past has been shop brought stuff that has started sprouting in the cupboard! I brought proper stuff once but didn't store it properly and it rotted before I got it into the ground

I have ordered "real" garlic this time but only cheap stuff, not from a garlic specialist.

[Chris11]

I grow in tubs, helps drainage and reduces the chances of sogginess and rot.
I let the garlic tubs spend at least some of the worst of the winter in the greenhouse. That has still been cold enough to get bulbs dividing in to cloves.

Here's a series of pics from my 2016 harvest:

[ZsaZsa]

I'm also trying a selection of soft and hardneck garlics (all from Kings seeds) plus my own elephant garlic I've saved from last year's harvest.
Planted them back in October, added heaps of compost, calcified seaweed, garden lime, some blood fish and bone to the soil, spaced them a good 7in apart. I've read that feeding them with potash in February will keep the rust in check. We'll see...fingers crossed more success this year.

[Snoop Puss]

^^ Sounds like you should get a fantastic harvest, ZsaZsa, with all that loving care. Hope they turn out well.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

just split 4 bulbs of "Picardy White" which I bought last year and never got planted, but I'll stick em in modules and leave em in the polytunnel and use as a bonus crop if they amount to anything, really want to get hold of some "Casablanca" which is a lovely garlic and fairs better in my colder Northern regions!

[Chris11]

I save the best and largest cloves from each year to grow the following year, and this has been working well.

I understand the arguments about not using shop-bought garlic and looking at specialist suppliers. As expected, when I've tried this myself, results haven't generally been that good.

But one variety has done particulary well for me, so here's a link if anyone else wants to give it a try. It's the selected large bulb, not the standard garlic, and maybe that made a difference.

TSM Large Bulb Garlic.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Well my first planting of the year is done!

And it feels so good!



But begger me! it was cold down there today!

And my poor poly is in need of a good "Scrub"

[Kada]

I would second buying it locally from more local grown farms. I live in hot Asia and Canada and have a farm in both places. I tried growing my Taiwanese garlic there and it just curled up and died. Way too different a climate. Seems most garlic is from China, which can be anything from super cold to tropical, but from some friends who export it for work seems most grows in warm regions quickly, so seems a bad idea for seed in a cold country's winter.

Grow lots of the elephant garlic in Canada as well, it's perennial there even. I would spend a bit more and buy the local suppliers true tested variety. I like doing the supermarket thing too, but in the end, we should expect failures growing a tropical plant in the snow.