I bought some garlic at the weekend for planting. Should I plant it today? There was a frost last night, I am wondering if it would be a shock for it if I put it out now or better because it needs the frost to split?
I put some in at the end of october anyway, (just ones from tesco) but would this new lot harvest at a different time?
Theres not very good instructions on the bag but they are nice big healthy looking bulbs.
Thanx Sandra x
You will gain nothing by planting before the soil warms a little.
i also planted some before the winter in pots and they are going great guns, but i saved some for a later planting, when you say when the soil has warmed when would you suggest Tim please? we uses shed loads of garlic so would like to keep a constant supply going :D
Oh, nothing clever - just wait till this week of frosts is over? That's what I'm doing with my Shallots.
Isn't there a theory that garlic doesn't form cloves unless they experience a frost?
By the way, some of my seed garlic came in one of those jiffy bags that is lined with bubble wrap. I saved some to plant in February to compare to earlier planting and a lot of the ones in the jiffy bag had developed a rather nasty greeny grey fungus. Those in ordinary brown paper bags (in the same storage place) were fine.
When to plant garlic seems to depend on whether you are growing hardneck or softneck garlic. In Glasgow, I plant hardneck garlic in October and it is well out of the ground now, and much bigger than the overwintering onions. Hardneck garlic seems to be the best type to grow in the North of the UK, and is the type that the "Really garlicky" farm grows near Nairn in the North of Scotland.
I am not sure if frost is required to cause the garlic to split into cloves, as we get plenty frost in Glasgow in any case through the Winter.
The accepted wisdom is that both garlic and shallots require a frost to cause them to divide.
With this in mind most people plant garlic either in October/November or in January/February. My Solent White, a softneck, variety went in at the end of January, along with my shallots. They are however in a raised bed on a medium to heavy loam and I'm in Berkshire, so don't generally suffer extremes of climate other than drought and heat.
As with a lot of things it depends on your soil and location. Modern hardneck garlics are all derivatives of Canadian/North American varieties which are all well adapted to the harsh climate, hence their recommendation for the North of the UK or areas subject to heavy rainfall with heavy soils. Softneck varieties do not like sitting in cold damp soil, hence their recommendation for planting later.
But hardnecks don't store well?
And at what stage does Garlic need a frost??
Quote from: Vortex on February 25, 2008, 19:45:33
The accepted wisdom is that both garlic and shallots require a frost to cause them to divide.
That's what I've always been led to believe.
I planted three different varieties on 30th October, Thermidrome, Germidore and Christo. Mild, strong and full flavored... Although what the difference is between strong and full flavored I don't yet know.
In total 110 separate cloves. I now have 110 8" high garlic plants that all thrived in the -6 degree frosts last week.
I have read recently that garlic should be left in the fridge for 7 days before planting
Yes okra, it needs to be kept somewhere cold before planting - and also yes! please don't keep it in plastic bags (ie the inner bubble bag of a jiffy!) cos it can't 'breathe' - and goes mouldy ::)
Remember to save the biggest cloves for next year too. I'm on my 3rd season of French garlic saved from daughter's trip. Pop in October/November time, if you can resist eating them, and let the frost at them, harvest in June. I think they need to send up the leaves and then have a frost to divide :)
Being a complete novice at growing garlic i planted mine at the end of january because i noticed they were developing shoots anyway in storage. Then we had a week of hard frosts here in the south since and i thought ..oh well thats the end of them.But over the last few days they have started to shoot up through the soil much to my amazement. :)
hi Vortex, where abouts in berks are you? i'm in Slough :D
I'm in Bracknell.
As to the garlic - I'm only quoting what is accepted practice. As I don't have a degree in biololgy or any specialisms in botanical science I can't define why garlic should need a frost to encourage division only that that is the accepted practice.
As to hardneck varieties not storing as well as softneck, I'm not selling it and therefore don't have to worry about shelf life. No one seems to quote a storage life only that softneck varieties tend to store better - is that 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 10 years who knows, and in most cases its academic, it'll get used before it becomes a problem.