Garlic

[thesunflowergal]

Like most of us, this year in the garden I have had some hits and some misses. I have grown lots of different things and its been a learning curve. One of the hits has been my garlic, I planted it quite late but the bulbs are now massive. I have been searching for the right way to dry it out and have come across two different ways. So should I hang it to dry upside down or plait them all together and hang the right way?
When should I plant the next lot out?
Thanks Nikki x

[Carltonian Man]

I was always told to dry garlic with the leaves lower than the bulb because it's supposed to help it store better (don't know if this is true or not). We dry ours by pushing the leaves through a piece of the heavier duty type plastic clematis mesh. The mesh is about 40mm so the bulbs don't go through then the whole thing is hung up in the garage until the leaves are dry.
Re planting time, mid October until mid November works for us but I've heard said "Plant on the shortest day, harvest on the longest". Whatever, I recall from somewhere that garlic needs 30 consecutive days below 10 Celsius for it to develop into cloves.
Hope this helps

[Odsox]

For drying I just dump them on a piece of galvanised mesh that I set up in the greenhouse. Must work as I just chucked out the unused ones from last year's harvest and they were still reasonably usable.
That piece of mesh gets a lot of use as my onions, shallots and squash all get the same treatment, that is - baked in the sun for a few weeks.

I agree with Carltonian Man, I plant mine at the end of October along with some autumn onion sets and shallots.

[grahamhobbs]

Odsox that's very good going, do you know what variety it is that keeps so well?

[Odsox]

Odsox that's very good going, do you know what variety it is that keeps so well?

Not really Graham, although Solent something or other springs to mind, but probably not Solent Wight as they are pinkish cloves.
I bought some umpteen years ago and have replanted ever since.

[grahamhobbs]

Solent Wight is a good keeper, although it is usually stated as keeping until April or a little longer. Mine keeps to about mid-May and I use the same method of drying as yourself, Odsox. Most other garlics seem to last only to March at the latest, although I've read Picardy keeps slightly longer even than Solent, but I haven't tried that. The alternative is to grow Early purple which is ready to harvest in May, so filling the gap before most garlics are ready in June/July.
For years I used to only grow ordinary shop bought garlic (basically chinese), believing it to do just as well as the purpose bought and expensive named varieties, but in recent years I've realised the difference, their size (not all named varieties do well on my plot) but particularly their keeping qualities (some don't last much after xmas). But of course as you say, after the initial expenditure, you save the cloves for the following year anyway.

[gregorach]

Yeah, you want to make sure they're drying before plaiting them for storage.

I forget which variety I grew last year, but I've still got some that are perfectly usable. Cool, light and dry seems to be the trick - I hang my plaits up beside the windows. It keeps well like that, and I haven't had any trouble with vampires either. ;)