Are you planting garlic this year?

[lovinglife]

If so what cool kinds are you going to grow, and what time of year do you plant garlic where you live? I have 5 varieties this year and will plant next month.

 

[claudine]

I'd like to grow Porcelain Garlic, it's my favourite kind, I plan to start growing it next spring but I'm not sure if I'll succeed. I find Creole Garlics very pretty

 

[lovinglife]

I have never tried that variety. This fall I will be planting 5 different hard neck varieties. I will be set for garlic next spring!

 

[ChanellG]

I am thinking about planting garlic, but only a small amount, in a pot, on the windowsill. Everything I grow is in containers, even outdoors. I have sprouted garlic before, and placed it around roses, but never grown it for food use. Because I eat a lot of garlic I now want to try growing it, though from what I have read it takes a really long time to be able to harvest it.

Do either of you have any tips for successful growing?

 

[Tmann]

Thanks for the reminder....

 

[lovinglife]

I order garlic from garlic growers, they look just like garlic you eat, seperate the cloves and plant in the fall, Harvest next year when the leaves start dying. If you do the bulbils, or seeds, it takes two years....some people even plant grocery store garlic, just seperate and plant.

 

[ChanellG]

I think I am just going to try sprouting a couple cloves the next time I get a bulb at the store or the farmer's market and see what happens. Two years is a long time to wait for garlic from seed.

 

[lovinglife]

Very true! I buy certified disease free planting garlic and when I harvest next summer I will set some back for planting next fall. It is so very good, and for me, Spring means garlic shoots instead of flowers! There are so many wonderful varieties it is just hard to choose, I now have 5 varieties for this fall, actually will plant mine in a couple weeks.

 

[ChanellG]

Last year I bought some garlic at a local farmer's market that had a very tall flower attached. I now wish I had saved and sprouted a couple of those cloves. They were much fatter and easier to peel than the cloves you usually get from the supermarket bulbs.

 

[lovinglife]

Yes they are, I am using Muzik (SP?) right now and it has about 5 really nice large cloves, I have saved the largest ones to replant and eat the rest. Can't wait to see what my 4 new varieties do, they also are a hard neck.

 

[ChanellG]

Because of the time it takes to grow garlic, I wish I had more time and space for planting, but since this will be an experiment for me, I guess I will have to be content with only planting a little until I know I can be successful with it.

 

[lovinglife]

My garlic area last year was maybe 15 feet long and 3 feet wide. You can plant them 4-5 inches apart all the way around if you don't want to make rows. I had two rows and could have planted way more last year if I had it, this year I am planting almost twice as much, we did make our bed 5 feet wide this year. Will be planting soon, can't wait for spring already....

 

[ChanellG]

LOL, I don't have that kind of growing space, so I will just have to settle for a few plants in pots. Maybe I will try one or two indoors and a few more outside. Time to go shopping!

 

[Jed]

If so what cool kinds are you going to grow, and what time of year do you plant garlic where you live? I have 5 varieties this year and will plant next month.

I grow a purple skinned variety. I've done so for many years.I used to grow a commercial crop which was plaited and sold at markets. There was never a shortage of customers. The best time to plant in temperate climates is autumn and the earlier the better.Garlic likes a frost to get it started. If you live in a warm area, put the garlic in the refrigerator for a couple of days before planting. When planting I dig long trenches 1 foot apart filled with manure and plant cloves 4 inches between each. I harvest when the base of the stem starts to feel soft. This method only works if the garlic hasn't sent up a flower stem. If it does it should be harvested before it rains otherwise the skin of the garlic can be stained and if too far gone will taint the garlic with an unwanted taste.

 

[lovinglife]

That is how we plant ours also, in a trench with bummy poop. We harvest ours when the leaves die back, I pinch off the flower heads and we eat those when they are real young and tender, yummmm. We are getting our beds ready now for planting in a week or so.