Allotments 4 All

Quote from: thifasmom on June 05, 2009, 11:54:59

Quote from: GodfreyRob on June 05, 2009, 11:49:22
I'm not expecting my autumn planted bulbs to be ready until August.

is that because of your location i'm in kent do you think mine will be ready earlier ???

Certainly up here i've never pulled them up before August - but maybe they start to grow later as the winters are a little bit longer?

oh floss what a shame! Patience is apparently a virtue  :o

Thats interesting reading Deb P

Got my 1st today not a monster but looking good and now drying out as we speak   8)

1. Lifting? As said - read the Garlic Farm's advice. Tip yellowing is usually - at this time - a bad sign. June liftimg is a bit premature??

2. We always plant the wimps from the centre of the bulb at 1" spacing for Green Garlic. How can anyone say that it's not very worthwhile??

mine has started to seed, i've cut off the seed pods not sure if i've done the right thing or not ,can i still leave them in the ground a bit longer, i've had a feel of the bulbs and there not very big.

My cousin, who grows a lot of garlic in Maine USA, told me when he visited ny allotment the other day that garlic is ready to be harvested when 3 of the leaves have turned yellow. However, it depends on the variety. I am growing Germidour, which should be ready to harvest in June and my supplier says it's unwise to wait until all the leaves have fallen over. The long dormancy varieties I am growing (Arno and Moraluz) should be ready in July/August.  At about the right time, scrape the soil away from around a couple of plants to see that they have bulbed effectively.

My garlic looks like almost ready to harvest leaks i cant wait to see how it looks when i pick it :) No sign of it yellowing yet...

My early garlic is yellowing somewhat. After greying skins last year, and completely rotted skins the year before, I'm tempted to lift it early!

Quote from: tim on June 06, 2009, 18:55:41
2. We always plant the wimps from the centre of the bulb at 1" spacing for Green Garlic. How can anyone say that it's not very worthwhile??

Have to agree Tim, and as you say a good use for the small cloves. Hadn't thought of reducing the spacing tho, so thanks for the tip!

It all seems to depend on what variety you are growing

My Albigensian Wight is still green and growing, last year I harvested it mid July. I also had Marco and something else last year but these didn't grow as well as the AW.

I lifted the Purple Wight today, possibly a little early, but a couple had toppled over. I had two rows in different parts of the garden; one was all small bulbs, but the other was a decent size. The latter had developed thick necks for some reason, which isn't typical. It won't affect the garlic, but it will mean I won't be able to use them for the Association show. Never mind, I have other garlic!

We grew our under enviromesh this year cos last year the alium moth got it. Its as green as can be. Did take the mesh off to take the flowerheads off. never seen anything move so quick to get the mesh back on.

I had half a bulb given me from one of the members on here. The stems have thickened towards the base. When I scrape away a little of the soil, just to see how they are progressing, although a little larger, they are not showing signs of producing any size bulb! ???

Quote from: tim on June 06, 2009, 18:55:41

2. We always plant the wimps from the centre of the bulb at 1" spacing for Green Garlic. How can anyone say that it's not very worthwhile??

Tim, what do you mean by wimps?

Neil

Generally speaking, you get a ring of worthwhile cloves & an inner ring of wimps - not worh the space of good bulbs. So they're packed in close for green garlic.

This shows it - fresh out of last year's crop, so starting on this year's, even though unripe.

Mine have gone yellow and flopped over, but they are the thickness of knitting needles!

Depressing!

Ours have started developing a little rust....

Am tempted to dig up one today to see if they are ready.

Its so confussing to know when to harvest i have read so much advice that contradicts eachother some say when the tips are yellow some say when most of the leaves are yellow and others say when you have so many leaves yellow and so many green! How do you know which advice to take?

My stems if that's what its called are really thick the leave tips are yellow all looking good above ground!! I planted mine in October. What would you advise?

Thanks Lucy

Lucy, mine have yellow tips, but with the rust I think I will take a look. You can always dig one up and leave the rest....

God whats rust does that mean i have it too???