I lifted my garlic

[strawberry1]

I planted in november and lifted yesterday. I didn`t go with the intention of lifting them but I had a look while up at the allotment. I scraped soil back and it looked as though the cloves would soon be pushing through the outer skin so hey ho I started lifting carefully. I was gobsmacked at the sheer size of the bulbs and at the quality, they are amazing, the biggest I have ever grown, dry and clean bulbs, no rot at all. None of the cloves have popped through but they would have very soon. Now home and on every surface I can find outside. They must have liked last winter. I grew jolimont from home cloves and abigensian, also from home cloves. The bulbs this year are the biggest and best I have ever grown

Btw the clay soil under the clay crust is still damp, surprisingly as we haven`t had rain for weeks

[strawberry1]

[BarriedaleNick]

Glad you got a good clean crop - I cant seem to get a decent result down the plot any more.  With white rot and rust very prevalent I mostly grow in deep trays in the garden - I pulled some the other day (thermadore) and they look great.  Still got the marco in but they look ready to pull so might have at them today.

[goodlife]

Strawberry...I don't believe you unless there is some photo evidence.....

Your crop sounds very good and I think I'm about to do same to mine...they certainly look ready, but the rust is now taken hold of the tops so they won't be growing anymore.

[macmac]

Thanks for the heads up Strawberry, I just lifted mine. We put them in a raised bed at home as the lottie has lots of rot. I saved cloves from our last seasons crop, as it was really good and this years is smashing . Had a couple a bit manky but otherwise sound 

[caroline7758]

Mine are covered in rust so I think I'll be lifting them soon, even though it's earlier than usual. Not suer we even had a frost to help them on this year!

[squeezyjohn]

I took mine out last week because some were starting to keel over and die.  The soft necks I grew were fine - nice big cloves (Solent Purple and Solent Wight) ... but all my hard neck varieties were still a while away from bulbing up and were rotting where they stood.

A lot of others on our site have lost the entire crop to rot.

I think it's been a bit too wet for them ... but I was very relieved to have saved half the crop.

[galina]

Somewhat rusty here too.  I am going to wait another week or two, but I was very encouraged to hear that you had good cloves, Strawberry1.

I guess good rainfall earlier made a difference and helped them bulk up.   

[ancellsfarmer]

Somewhat rusty here too.  I am going to wait another week or two, but I was very encouraged to hear that you had good cloves, Strawberry1.

I guess good rainfall earlier made a difference and helped them bulk up.   

Will the "rust" affect the storing of these, and will you use new stock for next year?

[goodlife]

Somewhat rusty here too.  I am going to wait another week or two, but I was very encouraged to hear that you had good cloves, Strawberry1.

I guess good rainfall earlier made a difference and helped them bulk up.   

Will the "rust" affect the storing of these, and will you use new stock for next year?

No..it is only on surface and it doesn't have any effect to for new stock. It is environmental thing that brings rust on...some years you do get it and others don't. We had plenty of rain this spring that did bring on lush growth..perfect combination for rust.

[galina]

Somewhat rusty here too.  I am going to wait another week or two, but I was very encouraged to hear that you had good cloves, Strawberry1.

I guess good rainfall earlier made a difference and helped them bulk up.   

Will the "rust" affect the storing of these, and will you use new stock for next year?

Not noticeably - mine are dried, plaited and hung up in the conservatory and they always store fine, even in a rust year. 

Against advice of gurus at the time, I have grown from my own rusted cloves in previous years and there were no bad effects.  If it is quite wet in spring,they get rusty, if not they don't.  This year's rusty cloves grow without rust in a drier spring if previous experience repeats.

The main reason I did not take the advice to ditch the rusty ones, was that I like my varieties and don't want to replace with others. 

[gavinjconway]

Mine are covered in rust so I think I'll be lifting them soon, even though it's earlier than usual. Not suer we even had a frost to help them on this year!

Snap with me... loads of ruse which started on the Music that I bought in this year to boost my varieties a bit so maybe It was from them - but I dont know how it comes or goes.. Lifted 3 rows and they are ok'ish but smaller than normal 

[goodlife]

I lifted few up yesterday and although the plants have bulbed up...they are not quite there yet. There is still some green to be seen under the rusty leaves so I'm going to leave mine another week or two, just in case they will manage to bulk up that little bit more...nearly there now 

Once the garlic is lifted and dried, I usually cut the roots and tops off, rub the outer dirty outer layers off and that gets rid of the rusty parts...rest of the bulb will look 'good as new' then 

[galina]

Once the garlic is lifted and dried, I usually cut the roots and tops off, rub the outer dirty outer layers off and that gets rid of the rusty parts...rest of the bulb will look 'good as new' then 

That is a good idea.  Probably worth doing if the foliage is badly rusted, just in case the bulbs get damp in storage.  To keep them dry, I would lay them out in a single layer, rather than putting them into an onion net.

Was sorry to read elsewhere that some people had a really small harvest.  A bit of a mixed picture emerging this year.

[Paulines7]

My bulbs are quite small (about 1"diametre) despite being in since last year.  One of my chickens escaped and knocked over all the stalks of the garlic and unearthed some.  I went along with a trowel and buried the bulbs but the next day, the bird got out again.  The bird has now had its flight feathers trimmed!  I have buried the bulbs again but some of the garlic stalks are damaged and won't stand up now.     

[telboy]

Yep,
Lifted mine today, rusty as my scythe, but stored in the GH, I reckon they,ll keep. Bit small but there was no frost to speak of during the winter to split the bulbs.
Hey Ho, I'll keep a number for next year as they are Italian barstuards and very oily (now what I mean)?

[pigeonseed]

Sounds like an amazing crop strawberry1. Mine are poor this year - rust and white rot. I think I'll follow the others here and try raised beds next year.

[TheEssexYorkshireman]

I planted mine in the Autumn and used cloves from last years crop too - first time I've done this. They've performed pretty well and really cant complain altho like many others I dug them up sooner due to rust problem. Now drying in the GH with my Japanese onions. Will probably buy fresh this year but keep some cloves for planting the follwing year.

[chriscross1966]

I lifted the volunteers that had appeared from some missed offsets and a couple of small cloves that got left behind when I turned a bed into herbs neqr theee back door... they look like about as good a crop as I've ever grown... the rather late-planted stuff on the allotment I will have to go and have a look at...

[antipodes]

Yesterday I cleaned mine off, after having let them dry in the pantry for 10 days. There are about 24 bulbs but they are very small this year. They seem to be hardneck, as there is a rather solid stem that goes up the middle of the bulb. Is that maybe a mistake?

[strawberry1]

softneck is better for mild climates. Maybe that is why my softnecks did so well here in somerset

I cleaned mine up yesterday and am now down to about 4" of stem, all now placed upside down through lakeland kitchen cupboard racks  in a small greenhouse. Looking great and no bad bits. Will soon be ready to store in ikea hanging nets for childrens rooms. I just cut off the bottom few spaces as they are too long. Will be putting hooks in the ceiling of new airy insulated cool big shed, yippee it beats me scrabbling around looking for where to store them. There will be plenty of big cloves for planting this autumn, yikes not many more weeks really