Garlic

[paradox]

At the beggining of summer my wife had left a bulb of garlic bought from netto in the bottom of the fridge and it had started to seperate and sprout.
I split the garlic bulb up and planted three cloves in an old bucket with some left over compost.
They grew fine and came up quite quickly.
At the end of summer i pulled one to see what it was like and found it to have a small but well formed bulb on the end.
It wasent really big enough for cooking with so i used the small cloves to add some extra taste to a bottle of olive oil.

Since this i have heard that shop bought garlic most likley originating in spain is no good to grow in the uk?

Also after reading an allotment forum it seems the right time to plant garlic is october as they need the winter frost to help them on there way.

What im wondering is shall i just leave my two remaining plants as they are till next year or shall i dig them up split them into cloves and replant them so i get more garlic next year?

Is it even worrth me growing them because there shop bought ones or will they taste horrible?

[paradox]

any one?

[Matt]

We planted shop bought garlic in October and it is doing nicely. Not sure about the results yet but I'll let you know next summer ;)

Matt.

[red]

a thought - we often get green garlic in our veg box.. so its kinda to garlic as leek is to onion...

and we chop the lot, bulb end and green part, and its great in stir fry. so if you garlics are weedy.. eat the green too..

[Andy Hamilton]

I have always planted shop bought garlic and been ok, the only problem can be that it will be less virus resistant than from a garden centre. The bigger the clove the bigger the bulb is a good rule of thumb.

Although this year we did not have much luck with our garlic this year from shop bought stuff so might end up buying seed garlic for the first time this year.

It does need a period of cold but it I tend to plant in March and apart from this year normally does ok. You can always stick it in the freezer first.

[zombiecazz]

I'm enjoying pinching the green tops of mine ATM and using them in salads and mashed potatoes

[Andy Hamilton]

I have read that as long as you leave some growth taking the tops off will stimulate growth of the bulb. Can't varify it as not tried it myself.

[zombiecazz]

we'll just have to see then....but I haven't grown it before so I have nothing to compare it too.

[paradox]

cheers for the replys people.
I think i will leave it as it is untill next year.

[digiveg]

I've just moved to a new place, and HAD to plant SOMETHING...so I planted some organic garlic I bought from a local whole food shop. They were planted about a week ago (so Nov. 10th-ish) and are now all sprouting. As I'm in Wales - where garlic is taught to swim at an early age - I think you should go for it...why wait for next year? It's a great way to learn.

[dibnah]

I planted my organic garlic quite a while ago now and its still not through the soil but I find I always get that with garlic. Most of the time it pops up quite unexpectedly because I have forgotten where I planted it, bit like a squirrel.