Topic: Rip off garlic bulbs!

[squeezyjohn]

I thought I'd experiment with some different hard neck varieties of garlic this year so I bought some of the heritage varieties from The Garlic Farm including one called Moravian Giant Wight - a bit pricey at £12 for 3 bulbs - but an interesting new variety.

They arrived this morning and I opened the parcel immediately ... what a disappointment!  These bulbs only contain 4 cloves each!  Admittedly they are big cloves - but seriously - £12 + postage for 12 cloves of garlic for planting?  That can't be right.

I've written an email to complain ... but be warned - large clove varieties might be an extremely expensive experiment.

[Jayb]

It does seem a rip off price anyway, more so when you have only 12 cloves for planting, not sure how much postage is on top. Their picture of a bulb, http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/Moravian-Giant-Wight-Seed.aspx  shows 7 cloves so you have just over half of what they depict. I've never bought from their site, I dislike the way they rename varieties. Hopefully they have good customer service.

I don't find "All of our seed garlic was once grown from virus free stock." very reassuring, certainly doesn't say virus free and aren't viruses acquired over time?

[squeezyjohn]

I'm happy with the customer service ... a lady rang within a few hours of getting the email and apologised saying they'd send another set of 3 bulbs to me.

[Jayb]

Glad they replied quickly and hope they send you a better lot this time.

[squeezyjohn]

I have to admit I've never had such swift and generous customer service.  The replacement 3 bulbs arrived this afternoon (each containing 6 cloves) - and they also bunged in pots of garlic mayonnaise, hot garlic pickle and something called black garlic.

So I now have 30 cloves to plant which I'm happy with.

[plotstoeat]

It obviously pays to complain! Maybe I sh take my onions back (see today's post).
I also bought garlic today; two soft neck varieties Thermidor and Germidor at £2.99 for three. Any tips? Last week MD said to plant them quite deep but it says 1" on pack.

[squeezyjohn]

I'd go with 1" to 2" - definitely get them underground unlike onions which can just poke out of the surface.  That method has always worked quite well for me.  I find that preparing the ground with some rotted manure can lead to bigger bulbs in the long run - but it's not essential - you can always top dress with chicken pellets or manure in the spring.

Weeding will be necessary because they don't cover the ground well and be careful with a hoe as it's all too easy to accidentally chop off a garlic neck.  Apart from that - garlic is pretty easy.

[green lily]

Last spring my outdoor garlics were ruined by rust [so were the broad beans!]. Only survivors were the Lidl 3 for 89p which I've replanted for 3 years in the poly. They either came from Italy or spain [label said both...] They have delivered the goods at minimum expense and I shall be planting the best cloves again shortly. BTW the Latvian garlic I had died but the bulbs I gave my daughter further north did well and are going in again... The rust seems endemic on the chives and the euphorbia weeds which I've yet failed to erradicate. Wondering whether to start onion sets in poly or wait and grow from seeds in the spring. Decisions , decisions....