How's your garlic?

[caroline7758]

All the leaves on my garlic have gone yellow/brown so i've dug a few bulbs. They are a bit on the small side. is it worth leaving them in the ground any longer? I guess it's a result of the dry weather?

[caroline7758]

[petefj]

Mine are the same, so I dug a row last night and they're great.  A good size and apart from the rust on the leaves they look good.

[schmelda]

I dug mine out last week.  They were a bit small too, I blamed the dry weather.  I think I'd left them in too long as it was, as the bulbs were starting to split

[Kea]

If the leaves have gone brown they are not going to grow any bigger so dig them up. Last year my garlic bulbs were tiny and we had a drought then too, this year I watered my garlic more and harvested the autumn planted ones last week and these are a good size this year. The ones planted late are still growing.

[antipodes]

Harvested yesterday on a blazing hot day! I got 32 bulbs this year, not very big but they are "pink garlic" which is prized here for superior taste. A few are as big as you would buy in a store, the other about baby-fist size  ;D ;D but I am pleased with them. Grown from pink Spanish garlic bulbs bought for 99 cents at Lidl!!! Planted in January.

[irridium]

anitipodes: were these the ones that were sold in a small wicker basket back in Spring from Lidl? I nearly bought some, but I wasn't sure whether they'd do well for our British climate.

I got my hardneck porcelain 'Music' planted out in Nov in a raised bed and they're starting to yellow on the ends. i don't think mine will be ready to lift until sometime in July, I'd say. I'm just hoping mine will be a decent size tho', but I know they might not as I used MP compost in the bed which tends to dry out v. quickly.

[flowerlady]

Disaster ... white rot is back ... or maybe never left !!   :'(

... and I have been reading that one should leave the site alone for EIGHT YEARS !!!  :o before going back to that spot !! 

Seriously considering flower pots next year !!

[smudger28]

This is the best year we have had for Garlic.

The picture shows what we harvested on Sunday.

They are Albigensian garlic.

[caroline7758]

Thanks for the replies. i'll dig the rest up this week.

[antipodes]

anitipodes: were these the ones that were sold in a small wicker basket back in Spring from Lidl? I nearly bought some, but I wasn't sure whether they'd do well for our British climate.

Well actually I bought them more in December. They were a Spanish variety, sold in little nets. I jumped on them because they had really big cloves! Actually, there are not loads of cloves but a few big ones, which I think is preferable. They have come up a lovely pink colour. I wanted to take pics but my camera battery was flat the other day :(  they survived a very harsh winter here, and I thought them doomed as they took weeks to show growth above ground. So I would think that in the UK they will be fine. This is the 2nd or 3rd year I have grown Lidl garlic! And it has been very succesful (and 1/4 of the price!!).

[shirlton]

Looked at ours today and decided that they were ready to harvest. Good return. They were saved from last year so we are really chuffed.

[brown thumb]

i normally plant garlic in the spring  i have garlic left from last year, can i plant them this autumn or wont they be any good

[lottiedolly]

we dug ours up over the weekend as we had rust on some and others had dried out stems. upon digging them up we had a few large single bulbs (how they did not split in that cold weather is beyond me) and because of the drought, many are smaller than usual.

I am not sure about if they will keep well so am considering how to store them or does anyone have a recipe for a garlic chutney or something similar, i hate to waste a crop and if it is not going to keep, i do need to do something with it.

does anyone have any advice

Kx

[shirlton]

Someone gave me some garlic last november and I planted it in the open uncovered. Of course it got the fly. I took it home and managed to save some of the cloves which I froze. Do double bag it cos the smell will permiate through the freezer

[caroline7758]

Someone gave me some garlic last november and I planted it in the open uncovered. Of course it got the fly.

What kind of fly? Didn't know there were flies which could get garlic- mine's always uncovered.

[chriscross1966]

Mine are a decent size but some have been attacked by onion white rot so I'm getting them out.... I'll try adn wash the elephant garlic off with Milton to sterilise it then grow in pots next year.... will probably have to puree adn freeze most of it though, the OWR is letting other fungal things in to attack the bulbs...

chrisc

[shirlton]

The alium moth attacks everything in the onion family. Leeks onions and garlic. Dont know if it also gets the flowering aliums as well.

[Deb P]

Lost all of my spring planted garlic, the usually reliable Marco which was my saved cloves. Partly my own fault, i didn't water enough and they suffered in the dry April.

However, my overwintered 'Messindrome' is just brilliant, huge cloves when I harvested yesterday. So lesson learned from now on, all my shallots and garlic are going in the autumn! :-\