Garlic advice needed

[Millymollymandy]

I chopped up my spring onion-like garlic bulb and used it. It smelt nice and garlicy even though there wasn't much of it!

Hi Camile - I've just realised that when you say 'even tough' you mean 'even though'!!!! Don't want to pick fault with your very good English but 'even tough' didn't make any sense at all!

[Camile]

Hi M3,

No problem .. you can point out my faults because I'm sure I do plenty of them .. no offence ..

And I have a bad habit of forgetting the H because in France or in Ireland, they seem to completly forget the H .. they never pronounce it !

I've planted some spring onions about 2 weeks ago but nothing seems to pop out .. was that too late or too early to plant them ?

Can I expect to some for this summer because a french man without garlic is not a french man ..

Camile

[Millymollymandy]

Of course! You'll have no probs in Ireland with the TH sound!! Hee hee my husband's name is Keith and here in France they have a BIG problem with that! He gets called Keet or Kees.

Give your spring onions a chance - it is quite slow to germinate, especially when the weather is cool.

[chadspad]

Have just read this thread looking for advice on garlic growing and seen that M3, your hubby is called Keith - as is mine and yes, the problems the French has with his name - at his firm they call him kiss!

I have to disagree tho with the shops produce, I much prefer the freshness of the food here - I think its far superior in taste to anything that I bought in the UK where its all just down to size and look.

I have to disagree too (sorry) with the weather thing - well this part anyway, it has been far warmer these past 2 winters than the UK. Where my friends are down the road, the temperature doesnt drop below freezing and theyve not seen snow in about 10 years! Lucky wotsits

Anyway, back to the garlic - Im gonna try it in pots but outside - anyone tried it like that with success?

[the.fee.fairy]

so...growing garlic...

Some say plant a whole bulb in the ground.
Some say plant cloves in the ground.
Some say plant bulbs in the ground and cloves in tubs
Some say plants both bulbs and cloves in tubs.

Which is more successful for you?

And...does garlic come up in your garden like the bulbs you see in shops?

I'm a bit confused over all this!

Also...can i plant some now? Again:
some say plant in the autumn for pulling up in spring
some say plant in spring for summer

Will they grow both spring and autumn?

[adekun]

I'm missing English tea despite lots of good teas here, can only get Lipton in the supermarkets.

I just planted a load of garlic, peeled it down to the clove (too much). So far, just over half have popped up (two weeks).

Before, I spent about £4 on one head of Aomori garlic, there was only four cloves. I planted it, then dug it up after a few weeks , as I needed to rearrange the plot for the above. I was careful, the cloves/bulbs had spawned some roots but no shoot. Replanted it with the normal garlic but so far no show.

Perhaps I need to wait a bit longer, but wonder if it's okay to move it at such an early stage?

[Shirley]

We planted in spring and it's not grown enough, but we have a short growing season here... we are going to plant some NOW for use next year... not sure when next year, but whenever it's ready. I guess a lot depends on your local growing conditions.

As for your question about whole bulb/cloves/tubs/ground etc... how about doing a little experiment to see what happens :)

I will be planting cloves.. rather than a whole bulb... and will do some in the ground, some in a large tub, some autumn and some spring... I'll try a couple of different varieties too.

[the.fee.fairy]

okie doke. I'm waiting for the garlic i have to sprout so that i can plant it, but i've got a big tub waiting for something to go in it, and a bit of the veg patch, so i shall experiment as soon as i've got some shooting bulbs/cloves and report back.

[adekun]

Any luck?

For me, pretty much all of the cloves have sprouted, included the bigger Aomori variety. Think I'm lucky with the later having dug it up after planting it a few week prior.

[the.fee.fairy]

haven't got to planting mine yet.

Cleared a space in the vegetable patch yesterday, so i'll see what time i get home from work tomorrow (damn work...always coming between me and my garden!) and i might plant some then.

[Biscombe]

Planted mine a week ago, checking every day for signs of life..........sad eh!! Only got 2 strings left from the last harvest.....come on........sprout!!

[digiveg]

I dug a patch for some garlic yesterday, and will plant some cloves today. They'll have the honour of being the first veggie planted at our new place in Wales.

I think it's better to plant single cloves, rather than entire bulbs. I've accidentally left a bulb or two in the ground during a harvest, and the next season the whole thing has sprouted and crowded itself out. However, if you plant a single clove you end up with a whole bulb.

I've never waited for the cloves to sprout, either. Anyone got any data either way on that one?

[the.fee.fairy]

might post my cloves tomorrow then. They's not showing any signs of sprouting yet.

I usually leave things like that (well, onions when i grow them) to sprout before i plant them.

[the.fee.fairy]

planted 6 cloves yesterday, they're in an old recycling tub thingy.

Fingers crossed they're going to grow!!

[digiveg]

Yay! My garlic is sprouting! Now all they have to do is survive the frosts...which they've already done, come to think of it.