Topic: Elephant Garlic?

[Roy Bham UK]

:( I think I have planted my E.Garlic too deep, the leaves are starting to keel over but I'm not sure how big the garlic is and if it is ready for picking, any ideas?

[Hot_Potato]

Roy - I 'lifted' mine by gently easing them out of the ground with a hand-fork several weeks ago now - left them on the soil to dry off a bit.....I didn't plant until April.....admittedly they're not huge, some bigger than others but so sweet & juicy.....lift a few and enjoy them....HP

[real food]

Elephant garlic should be planted in September to grow over the winter, spring and summer. I normally plant it just deep enough to cover the clove.
You can tell when it is ready to harvest, in the same way as ordinary garlic, onions or shallots. The leaves start to go yellow, shrivel and fall over. If you leave it in the ground, it will start to grow again for the next year and it will not store so well. I have just harvested all my elephant garlic, and am drying it off under cover. I have found that elephant garlic will store for over a year, even under the greenhouse bench, provided you keep it dry.

[plot51A]

Certainly think you should be lifting by now. Mine came out at the beginning of July - was surprised to discover it was as big as my fist!

[Roy Bham UK]

;D Thanks all ;) I'll lift one tomorrow and see what it is like. I do hope I haven't wasted a season through naivety :'(

[jennym]

On the subject of these, I've just eaten one, and I'm not too impressed. They're a bit weak on taste? Anyone else think this or have I had a duff one?

[redimp]

They are a leek, not a garlic - I do not grow them because of their 'mild' taste.

[real food]

They have a milder garlic taste, but more than make up for that as they are more useful, more disease resistant, and store extremely well. One plotter on a neighbouring plot was unable to harvest garlic or onions last year because of white rot. I gave her some elephant garlic to plant and she has now harvested it in perfect condition.

[Merry Tiller]

I don't bother with it, it's not a patch on the real stuff

[Robert_Brenchley]

It's doubtless better than nothing if you've got white rot, but from the sound of it, my family would be totally unimpressed. We all like our garlic strong!

[Roy Bham UK]

;D A day late but finally lifted a few E/Garlic to find little pregnant lumps sum fell off as baby cloves, does this mean it has gone to seed, is it still edible? There are still a few left in the ground should I pull the lot up and store?

Sorry for all the questions ;D

[Mrs Ava]

So it didn't split into cloves Roy?  Use them whole (I don't like the idea of saving aliums with the white rot problem on my plot so would always buy new), roasted, they are sweet and mildly garlicy.  I don't think of them as garlic, but a mix between garlic and onion, and use them differently.  Thinly sliced over a pizza, big cloves roasted with courgettes, aubs and toms, or used whole in soups and stews.  If they didn't split, chances are they didn't get cold enough, mind you, as these aren't garlics, is this still the case...?  As for the little baby cloves, I had loads of these and planted them in pots to see if they would make small plants to go out on the plot next year, but some rotted, and the rest stayed the same size, made a few roots and a few leaves and that was that.

[Debs]

I have also harvested my elephant garlic which is drying off
in the lottie greenhouse.
Mine also have the baby cloves same as you Roy.

Might just stick them back into ground when dried off and see
what, if anything, happens.

Debs

[Roy Bham UK]

(I don't like the idea of saving aliums with the white rot problem on my plot so would always buy new),

;) Thank you both, Emma are you saying mine have white rot? :o I wouldn't recognise it if it had it, not yet anyway. :-[ :-\ :'(

[Mrs Ava]

No no no Roy, just that I have rot soooooooooo very bad I would never save any of my own sets for planting next year.  However, as has been said, Elephant Garlic is not garlic but leeks and leeks do not suffer with the dreaded rot (or at least no where near as bad) so I don't think it would be a problem.

[Roy Bham UK]

:o Phew! thank goodness for that ;D I didn't realise it was not real garlic when I bought it, I just thought it was a bigger version :-[ I am now looking for the real stuff, I assume it is in the shops now? I will be going to Wilko's soon and have a look, I know I should be looking in garden centres but Wilko has not let me down much so far and if they did they would compensate. 8)

[Mrs Ava]

I have ordered my garlic for delivery in September/October.

[real food]

In my experience, if the elephant garlic head does not split up into individual cloves, it is probably because it has not had enough time to fully grow. Still good to eat.
I have also had some success in growing on the mini-offsets, but in their first year, they only grow into a round head. If grown for a further year, I would expect them to split into individual cloves.