Author Topic: Garlic (Read 3745 times)

suziequeue · « **on:** August 17, 2010, 06:57:49 pm »

I'm getting confused about garlic.

We have been cutting off the flowering heads - mainly because we got confused and thought the garlic plants were onions and that they were bolting..... oh well..... moving on.......

So now we have some garlics with no flowering heads and others that we have left. Do we leave them or cut off the flowering heads?

Will it matter that we have cut the flowering heads off.

When will we know when they are ready?

Confused

Susanna

hexhammeasure · « **Reply #1 on:** August 17, 2010, 09:42:17 pm »

garlic is generally lifted when half of the row has started to turn yellow, those that have gone to seed can be rescued but you won't get as many cloves of each, use the seeded ones first and store the others for later. I'm going to pickle/store in jars of oil the ones gone to seed

northfifeduckling · « **Reply #2 on:** August 17, 2010, 10:58:21 pm »

mine didn't flower...?? Did you plant your in autumn?

Cinderhills · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2010, 07:35:25 am »

Mine didn't flower either but I planted in spring so not sure if it makes a difference.

smallholder in the city · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2010, 01:30:06 pm »

If you cut the flower heads off then leave 2 weeks before harvesting the bulbs are supposed to get approx 20% bigger. Last year I let mine flower because they looked pretty and the yield and quality was fine. Of course it might have been even better if I hadn't let them flower.

This year I cut the flower stalks & heads off 2 weeks ago and I'll be harvesting this weekend. We experimented with cooking the flower stalks (apparently used a lot in China) they were quite woody although intensely garlicky. Not all garlic will produce a flower stalk.

chriso · « **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2010, 02:15:49 pm »

I had my first crop of garlic this year and it was a spring - summer type. I took it all up when the stalks went yellow and soft (weather did not help). Some were small but the garlic is so strong and tasty you do not need much and if there is any left it will plant out again in spring. Meanwhile I have bought some winter sowing type so hopefully will get an even better crop next season.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #6 on:** August 22, 2010, 10:57:15 pm »

I've found it really does make a difference if you plant in the autumn. If the weather is too wet to get onto the soil, plant the cloves in 3 or 4" pots and overwinter in a tunnel, greenhouse or cold frame, before planting out before they get too big for their pots. This year I planted in Feb I think, under weed excluding fabric, and the garlic looks quite big, so I expect they would have been monsters if I'd planted 3 months earlier. These were cloves I had saved from my biggest plants last year. I'm looking forward to lots of garlicky meals this winter.

smallholder in the city · « **Reply #7 on:** August 23, 2010, 08:53:59 pm »

I'd definitely vote for autumn planting, bigger bulbs and it's nice to have something green to look at over winter. My garlic was the only greenery poking through the snow this winter.