Garlic Growth

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?QBBMV 1 May 2010 Garlic (Allium sativum, Hard neck)
This garlic was planted on the 9 October 2009. The wood mulch was about two to three inches deep, and the plants emerged with no difficulty. The growth is exceptional and the green color is most healthy in appearance.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?LDVDG 8 October 2009 Planting Garlic (Allium sativum, Hard neck) This is the planting pictures for reference.

[Millymollymandy]

They look good, I thought they were onions in the photo with the celery! Mine is yellowing on the tips, I don't know why it does that.

[Durgan]

They look good, I thought they were onions in the photo with the celery! Mine is yellowing on the tips, I don't know why it does that.

I have had yellowing on the tips, and use to associate it with cold weather at the wrong time. This is the first year that the tips have not been damaged to some degree. I will assume it was the heavy mulch which covered the cloves after planting. I usually remove the mulch, but his year I was away and it was left in place accidentally.

The rich green color is probably attributable to the compost that I worked into the bed prior to planting. Both no tip yellowing and the rich green color are a bit of a pleasant surprise to me.

[Millymollymandy]

Cheers Durgan, we have had a colder winter in Europe than we normally get but it's still probably been quite warm compared to what you get in winter! Anyway glad to know my tip yellowing is not unusual and the cloves themselves are usually good and big so I won't worry too much.

[Bromd123]

They look good, I thought they were onions in the photo with the celery! Mine is yellowing on the tips, I don't know why it does that.

yellowing of the tips could also be lack of nitrogen in the soil had a similar problem myself but not with garlic

[Thomzo]

When do you harvest garlic? I usually end up pulling it up at the wrong time and there's only one small clove.

Zoe

[Durgan]

When do you harvest garlic? I usually end up pulling it up at the wrong time and there's only one small clove.

Zoe

Harvest when the bottom two leaves start to die off. I harvest about the 5 of July. Drying and curing properly the bulbs should store well for about eight months.

Garlic should be planted in the Fall and it overwinters. Garlic is amongst the most easy vegetables to grow. I plant and touch it not until harvest.

[Millymollymandy]

They look good, I thought they were onions in the photo with the celery! Mine is yellowing on the tips, I don't know why it does that.

yellowing of the tips could also be lack of nitrogen in the soil had a similar problem myself but not with garlic

I might put a bit of dried blood down then, thanks. There was a lot of rain in the winter so I suppose the nutrients could have been washed away. Can't remember if I fertilised this bit when I did the rest of the veg patch this spring!

[grahamhobbs]

Garlic is usually lifted before the leaves fully go brown, which is unlike onions where you wait until they are fully dried. The only reason is that if you lift them this bit early, it is because the nice white outer skin to the bulb will still be there, a few weeks later the leaves have not only gone brown but this white skin will have gone dirty coloured, if it hasn't actually started to disintegrate. Not that this makes any difference to the garlic cloves, it's just the appearance.

So if you want nice looking white bulbs of garlic lift them when the leaves just begin to die off, depending on variety, date of planting and the weather usually around late June.

[Thomzo]

Thanks. I'll keep an eye on them.

Zoe