Allotments 4 All

I got my garlic in last weekend and wasn't overjoyed with it. Today I got some of my own saved cloves from last year(on the left that I put in at the same time as the bought cloves (suttons) and wot a bloomin difference. I am going to save all 4 of these for planting in the autumn. Elephant garlic planted from own saved cloves may just be as good

 Shirl my Garlic is a disgrace total waste of money. I think it is the worst soil ever that we have planted our veg in this year. we did feed it & dig it over but all the veg has failed so far well except the sprouts  that is  cabbages have been eaten alive runners are useless. Onions are very slow but getting there.
My elephant garlic in another part of the garden is also rubbish so i shall do the same as you next year. Your garlic on the left looks great.

I'm afraid my garlic always looks like the one on the right! But then I don't look after it very well.

You've done well with the stuff on the left!

My first lot to be ready this year hasn't divided, but it still tastes so sweet after months of the manky old stuff from last year. All bitter and musty- yuck!

I hope you enjoy yours!

If I am saving any stock for reproduction next year I alway save the biggest and best!

The same applies if I am going to take cuttings.

For instance when I exhibited Chrysants & Dahlias I would go round the plot/bed and tag the plants that gave me the best blooms. These were then used for producing cutting material.

My belief is; these plants are perhaps slightly genetically different, and I want to save the differences.

Natural GM cropping if you like!

Thats just what I did TeeGee

I just harvested my garlic this morning!! And it looks like the ones on the left!!!  8) 8)
It had rust and was looking really yellow so I thought, hmm you won;t grow anymore than that, and pulled up the bulbs. So pleased - It had lots of manure, maybe that is the trick. However I was very late in planting, they went in in January, and they took a while to sprout, and it was very cold. I also did not use bought garlic but just some supermarket garlic, a Spanish variety. IT's not purple but it does have a sort of purplish colour to some bulbs. It was nice to eat so hopefully its "kids" will also be nice! I am thrilled. They are in the shed drying, about 20 bulbs.

And the tale on my site is that "you can't grow garlic here". So on Saturday I think I will give a bulb to my old timer neighbour and say here, plant that in December and tell me what happens!  ;D ;D ;D

sorry to hijack thread but should I be pulling my garlic now then? It overwintered (bulbs in last autumn). It's 3ft high.

From what I have gathered from here the time to pull them is when a third of the leaves have gone brown. Elephant garlic take abit longer.

that's a huge difference Shirl. Well done to you and your saved garlic! I wonder what the variety is, as it obviously likes your soil etc?

1066  :)

Thanks. sorry to be naiive but what's elephant garlic?

It's a leek that thinks it's a garlic. It's quite a big plant as alliums go, with correspondingly large bulbs. It's very sweet and mild, and a clove is about the size of a normal garlic bulb. They say it's a garlic for garlic haters, but I just use masses of it.

I love elephant garlic, and my few albigensians (12) poor examples planted in April this year are looking even smaller than yours!!!!
Haven't fed them though....
but will overwinter from now on (i'm only starting!!)

Super looking garlic, and what a difference yours to store bought  ;D

Can I use the leaves of my elephant garlic then too?

I have never tried eating the leaves of elephant garlic, but I think that it would be a bit tough and stringy.
If you want to know more about it, you can have a look at this page :- http://www.growyourown.info/page145.html

Just an observation from my own crops so far this year.

The saved cloves from the french garlic, some 5 years now, have all given me larger corms if planted in late autumn. The saved white English cloves, planted at the same time are much smaller this year, but... the same English cloves planted in February this year are the same size as the French.

Now whether it's just down to the hot weather this year is another matter. The storage will be more important as far as I'm concerned.

Ninny