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Harvested my first bulb yesterday. It's good! I'm obviously a brilliant gardener! (Or perhaps the weather conditions have suited garlic this year....)

I am giving up with garlic.

Tried shop stuff and it made little cloves.

Bought expensive stuff and it went rusty.

Tubes of garlic puree cost  next to nothing at Asda.

So will use the land for something that costs less to produce than it does to grow and it aint garlic

Shop stuff is nothing like home grown. One bad season just lets you know how good most seasons are.

Save your biggest corms/cloves for next year, pretty sure they get used to the soil  :) Mine are all up now, some tied and some still drying.

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/ninnyscrops/DSCF0875.jpg

picked up 2 bulbs of green garkic at 50pence each today local farmer tells me its been a good year.

I seem to go against all general practices by planting mine in mid-late March.

There is always enough of a cold spell up here in deepest darkest Yorkshire which they need and I always get a cracking crop as I get the best of the Summer months for it to bulk up.

I did once try planting un Autumn but had rubbish results,just sitting there all Winter in cold wet soil.

Here's the proof of last year.just 120 days.Gotta be worth a try doing it this way if you're getting poor results ??

Wilkos Garlic £1.49 for 3 bulbs.....Ave it !!! ;D 

wow looks good vegmandan.

I dread picking my garlic it shows no signs of being ready in fact someone though it was sweetcorn as theres about 3ft growth on the top. When i felt down to the bulb it was still spring onion sized so i cant imagine its bulked up any in a few weeks.

cam

Here is a small selection of mine harvested last weekend and drying in the plastic greenhouse in my back garden.  Still dirty!

I planted 4 different varieties last November - unfortunatley the birds/wind blew away the labels so I don't know which is which!
Anyway, some have rust and these I have pulled - not big bulbs and still 'green' - that is the cloves have not separated yet. I did what Hugh-Fernley thingy suggests and put them in the oven whole (just remove the outer skin, roots and soil, leaving inch of stem). Sprinkle with oil and then salt & pepper. In oven (160F) for 45 mins.
Eat them whole - they are really fantastic!
We have had these 3 days in a row, they are that good. We probably stink but who cares ;D

By the way - can I compost the rusty tops or should they be binned?

You can eat them in the "spring onion" stage. I have been told by friends from eastern Europe that they are a common delicacy eaten raw. I tried a few. They are very mild at first, and then you get a burst of garlic flavour that stays for days!

Mine are doing great in a pot after i planted them in February. The packaging said that they won't be full bulbs until the autumn and the stalks start going brown. I guess those who have harvested already, have other varieties or overwintered them...

What's the variety, Vegmandan? Some will do well from a March planting, some won't. I use green garlic in stirfries.

Wenn can you dig up elefant garlic?

Give it a while yet. it usually flops over towards the end of July.

Have read with interest all your posts.
My barber gave me a few bulbs (he's Italian) which produced 21 cloves, planted last back-end. They are still standing 3ft tall - strong but starting to fade.
Shall I wait until July for shriveling, & then lift & hang to mature in the greenhouse?
He says the variety has been going for 20 years.
Mama mia, I don't need a haircut for weeks!
Advice please!

I bought mine  from a specialist grower called Jennifer Birch and they are fantastic. I planted them in November to ensure that they got a good dose of frost which is essential if they are to grow well.  I planted 4 varieties and have begun harvesting the fastest growing ones - appropriately called "Sprint" - and they are huge and delicious.

I dug mine yesterday and despite the rust I had good results - much better than last year!

I do have rather a lot though - 85 bulbs! Just need to find a way to use it all!!

bd

oh hey mine look more or less like redclanger's !! So maybe I did do something right after all! I will see what they look like once they have dried properly.
I guess I was expecting massive heads like in the shops but maybe home grown is smaller naturally?

Photos, but can someone tell me whats going on with my garlic?
why have i got 2 cloves on the outside? They almost look like babies, and should I take them off an try and grow on?
This is my 1st time of growing garlic and this is the 1st one I've pulled up. Any thoughts on it will be most welcome.
Thanks x

How do you know Garlic is ready ? i have 5 rows and not a clue when to pull it up.

stems go yellowie brown and there ready to pull