I bought 2 varieties of garlic bulbs and planted them in individual cells and put them in a cold greenhouse a week ago @Jenny_Aster. I aim to transplant them into beds when the roots are well formed and shoots are growing. Depending what the weather is like I might put a polythene cloche over them to give added protection but only because we can get late frosts up until late May/June up here.
To add that I haven't grown them in cells before so I'm hedging my bets.
You don't need to be so precious with garlic Uff, it's probably the toughest veg out there. It laughs at frost and endures sub-zero temps.
I grow around 200 garlic each year mainly from my own seed. This year my wife has set as I was in hospital around 60 Elephant, 80 plus Rhapsody white both from my own seed and then 40 odd Morado which I had purchased from an Organic company. I was disappointed with the size of the Morado cloves and she ended up discarding half of them. Remember the bigger the clove the bigger the garlic. Now back to the question I was shopping in Asda last week and noticed that the customer had bought 3 garlic bulbs which were the biggest that I have ever seen in a supermarket as they are normally tiny little things not worth considering. Taking on board my recent expensive experience with Morado bulbs I would be inclined to give these ones that I saw last week a go. I do not know what variety they were or what country they had been grown in but they were tinged with pink if that helps.
Was nearly tempted to buy Elephant seeds, they looked colossal and looked to be less fiddly to prepare for cooking. Didn't realise 'the bigger the clove the bigger the garlic' - that makes sense. Hope you're now fully recovered after your stay in hospital.
I always buy garlic for planting as opposed to using SM garlic as it is certified virus free. I usually plant mine in late November or thru December as the frosts help it form proper bulbs of multiple cloves but was prevented this winter by an inconvenient slipped cervical disk.
Don't think we're lucky enough to be frost free yet, so hopefully the garlic will get the frost treatment. Sympathies re the slipped disc, hope it's now slipped back into place.
About 8 years ago I bought 3 organic Danish garlic bulbs, no idea on the variety but they are a hardneck and have purple skin. I've grown them ever since I now plant about 300 per year from my own stock.
If you buy British grown garlic you're going to be getting something that will manage in the climate.
This year I planted about half in October and those are 4 inches high now, and the other half went in a week ago (because I am lazy) It will be interesting to see if the planting time makes any difference.
Note to self: Ensure some garlic heads from the garlic harvest is kept back for planting next year!
300 a year? That's some serious weapons grade strategy for vampire hunting.
I bought 2 varieties of garlic bulbs and planted them in individual cells and put them in a cold greenhouse a week ago @Jenny_Aster. I aim to transplant them into beds when the roots are well formed and shoots are growing. Depending what the weather is like I might put a polythene cloche over them to give added protection but only because we can get late frosts up until late May/June up here.
To add that I haven't grown them in cells before so I'm hedging my bets.
You don't need to be so precious with garlic Uff, it's probably the toughest veg out there. It laughs at frost and endures sub-zero temps.
That's great, thanks Mike. I'm glad I mentioned my intentions. I'd probably have just coddled it to death. They're coming out of the cold greenhouse today.
A rule of the thumb is to sow garlic on the shortest day of the year (21st December) and harvest on the longest day of the year (21st June). I see @Obelixx sows hers later, and it seems to work for her/him. Garlic needs the cold weather to "set".
Last year I managed to plant shallots, garlic and onion sets by Xmas but the harvests were poor and badly affected by an early heatwave and drought in April with repeats all summer. This year I managed to get onions planted before the end of November but have only just got the garlic in. The varieties we get round here are not as hardy as @MikeOxgreen claims them all to be but still need a bit of frost.
Unusually it is still cold enough here and we'll get frosty every night for a few more days but I've spaced my cloves further apart this time and will be feeding and watering them more carefully than last year as I don't want a repeat. Keeping them weed free also helps as it removes competition for moisture and nutrients.
It'll be interesting to see how well the spares I planted in the window box will do.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
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It laughs at frost and endures sub-zero temps.
Don't think we're lucky enough to be frost free yet, so hopefully the garlic will get the frost treatment. Sympathies re the slipped disc, hope it's now slipped back into place.
Note to self: Ensure some garlic heads from the garlic harvest is kept back for planting next year!
300 a year? That's some serious weapons grade strategy for vampire hunting.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
I am going to plant my summer salad onions this coming week - red and white. They should be more or less ready around July. I plant plugs not seed.
Unusually it is still cold enough here and we'll get frosty every night for a few more days but I've spaced my cloves further apart this time and will be feeding and watering them more carefully than last year as I don't want a repeat. Keeping them weed free also helps as it removes competition for moisture and nutrients.
It'll be interesting to see how well the spares I planted in the window box will do.