By Flapjack

Re: Growing Garlic
05 Sep 2008 09:21

I understand home grown garlic is fabulous for flavour and easy to grow.

Is it just a matter of planting cloves in the soil in October? I am going to get a large planter from the garden centre and put it in my parents garden.

Do I just use normal garlic cloves from the supermarket or need I go to a garden centre? Any advice appreciated as I;ve never grown anything before!

Replies

By treehugger

Re: Growing Garlic
05 Sep 2008 12:41

hi Flapjack- i think you are better buying them from the garden centre or nursery as the bulbs will be more hardy and disease resistant (dont wanna state the obvious but make sure you break up the bulb into cloves!- i didnt the first time i grew garlic and planted the whole thing- what a plonker- dont know what i was expecting- a garlic tree?!!!)

By Sam, worthing west sussex, uk

Re: Growing Garlic
05 Sep 2008 16:38

you can plant very successfully garlic from the grocer/supermarket, like TH says, divvy up the cloves...with the very pointy bit facing upwards, and a little woody round bit to the bottom, about a pointing finger depth down, in a 6-8 inch pot, you will be able to plant 6 cloves.

ideally buy from the garden centre/homebase/b & q ..as TH is right they will be treated in such a way.....elephant garlic is actually a bit of a disspointment, although you get lovely big cloves, but the bulb will only produce about 4-5-6 cloves if you are lucky.

they will need very little looking after, esp if on window sill or on a balcony, as they will get all their "food" from what falls from teh sky, i wouldn;t advise growing indoors though, as you will need to damp down the soil.

ooo also garlic planted around the base of rose bushes is excellant...for bothe the garlic and the rose bush, its helps deter black spot...and also if you have a "delicate" shrub that might be cat sprayed up against.... the growing of garlic deters cats from doing their evil marking of territory.

when to pick your garlic is very sim,ilar to onions, you can pick and use when "green" but they are so much better when matured and dried after the green foliage spiky stems have gone yellow and start to look like "hay" they just lift the bulbs carefully, and leave on the soil top for at least a week, then plait them and hang, or leave in something like a veg rack. best ready when the "skin" has gone papery like onions.

Love Sammy

By *Bramble

Re: Growing Garlic
07 Sep 2008 14:42

Thank you for that comment about the roses Sam, I usually grow garlic but I'm hopeless at roses, they need far too much attention - so I'll let next year's garlic look after them :-)))