Allotments 4 All

Hello all :)

I'm about to plant my first ever crop of garlic this weekend and thought I'd see if anyone has any hints before I go and mess it up.

Is there anything I should add to the soil that garlic particularly likes? Do I need to keep it watered or just let the winter weather keep it alive...?

ta muchly!

:)

I planted mine 2 weeks ago and the are just coming up, they were planted where last years spuds were (only space I had) 6inch apart and just under the soil so they are covered.

that sounds pretty much the same as what i do.  dont need to water them. there will be enough moisture in the soil to start them off and it will rain soon enough.  pop them in and leave them. they do  like a bit of potash i believe, but i dont know if its advisable to put it on now or in the spring. its not vital though.

My garden centre recommended a dusting of potash on japanese onion sets after they were a couple of inches high. I wonder if this applies to garlic ?

toughens up plants making them more resistant to disease, and can help to counterbalance any excess of Nitrogen. Potash plays an important part in the formation of sugars and starches which can be stored by the plant in swollen roots so idea for bulbing plants.

A deficiency of Potash shows first as yellowing of the leaf margins, these may later go brown and scorched looking. Sometimes scorch shows up as leaf spotting and often starts at the base of the plant. In severe cases the whole plant can collapse and die. Both Galic and Onions are prone to rust which is this brown scorched look.

Just be careful as an excess of Potash is also bad for plants since this can cause too much water to be absorbed by the plant, giving reduced frost resistance. So make sure that there are no more frosts due before you do this.

I have heavy clay, and the winter weather is usually very damp.  I grow them in two ways:
1)  Start them off in pots of well drained compost outdoors, and plant out in final position in March
2)  Add a little sharp sand/grit to the bottom of the planting hole if planting directly.

I always leave to its own devices once it is in the ground, it seems to do OK.

Mine went in 2 weeks ago as well and is coming up nicely. I will try the potash in spring

I'm still waiting for my garlic ordered in June to arrive. However today i missed a parcel which was noted as perishable. Unfortunately I'm going to Bath for the weekend leaving early tomorrow so won't be able to collect it until Monday. Fortunately as it's garlic (I hope can't remember ordering anything else) it should be ok.

Foresterone - Potash, yes. In the Spring. And N.

Did you order from Dobies Kea? Mine turned up today...

Thanks all, very helpful :)

Mine were from Dobies and they arrived Tuesday....

What did you get, Cuke? I got the collection of 4 and have noticed the German ones smell like German sausages! All look to be a good size & quality.

ooh I have mine all ready to go in, maybe do that this w'end. As I was so disappointed by last year's attempt, this year I scrounged some from the nice Vietnamese couple that sell Asian veg on my market, it was dead cheap, about 30p a head and the cloves are huge!! The guy told me it would grow well in our local area, dunno what the variety is. SO I am going to give that a go and plant some of my hopeless crop again as green garlic :-) surely I will get soemthing
But what is POTASH? where do you get it, what is its chemical composition??

Potash is the general term for potassium compounds used as fertilisers.
If you have acid soil, you need to use fertilisers containing potassium nitrate, KNO3 and if you have alkaline soil, you need to use potassium sulphate (sulphate of potash) K2SO4

jennym thanks, didn`t realise there were one for acid soils etc long time since I did chemistry !

(Potash is the general term for potassium compounds used as fertilisers.
If you have acid soil, you need to use fertilisers containing potassium nitrate, KNO3 and if you have alkaline soil, you need to use potassium sulphate (sulphate of potash) K2SO4)
Can I ask why you recommend the different types of potash?

I use bonfire ash - that way I know its organic.  Oh and Comfrey - that has potassium doesn't it?

Monty planted his garlic tonight on Gardeners World.  He put it about a inch under the surface, 9 inches apart.  He said to plant anytime from now to Christmas.  It likes a rich, well drained soil, in a sunny position.  If manure was not added to the bed last year, then he recommended you add it now.  Softneck is ready earlier, but does not keep through the winter.

Mine have just arrived from the Really Garlicky Company and the instructions say, basically, plant 2" deep, 6" apart, feed nitrogen little and often from early spring, remove and eat the flower shoots when they appear and harvest when the leaves start to die back. I'll do as they say. It can't be worse than my last year's crop.

Geoff.

Got some from a neighbouring plot holder, don't know the variety.  Went in the ground last weekend. I put in 8 over a 4 ft row at the end of my onions. Same place as my spuds were last year.

First year for me planting garlic. When will it harvest?