[Sharonx]

I wanted to see the difference in supermarket garlic 7 garlic brought for growing, so I planted both in November to see what happens. So far the supermarket is way behind in growth, but we shall see what happens...

[Rangerkris]

Will wait and see weahter they have been pulled by the birdies tomorrow when i get to the plot hehehehe hope not tho.

[David.]

Ive put in a row today says its ok on the pack until May but i thought i read that it should have gone in weeks ago,   Well its my trail i planted my first stuff at the plot today Onion garlic and shallotts.  WOOP wOOP. i got my first things planted.

I've been growing garlic for around 20 years now, and (perhaps as I have clay soil?) I plant them both in autumn & spring, despite advice that they need the overwintering cold to be any good.

That's because (as I've said above) they don't seem to like my (cold/wet) clay soil overwinter, despite being planted in ridges - the last overwintering lot got rust.

So by planting both spring and autumn I ensure at least somethimng grows OK, though perhaps not maximum size.

Here's some of the overwintering stuff grown in a raised bed (to help combat that bloomin rust/browm rot):


Some other overwintering garlic in open ground:


And some spring planted stuff (it will catch up a lot):


Anyway, marvelous stuff as once you get enough you can replant cloves year after year for free.

That's around 300 autumn planted and 200 spring planted cloves of softneck, hardneck and elephant garlic + I've got around 40 elephant garlic bulbils planted.

[Lardman]

That looks brilliant David, can I ask about the spacing? ... wish mine looked that good. 

[wighty]

I'll go and spy on the Garlic Farm here on the Island tomorrow to see what's happening, it's only a short walk across the golf couse and the airport and I'm there. I'll let you know how there's doing.  Mine's fine, planted Jan. 6 inches tall.  The Elephant has yet to appear.

[Rangerkris]

As far as i know there still in the ground, one onion set had been pulled up buy im guess a bird.

[sunshineband]

I get onion sets pulled up by birds to cut off the little strawy bit at the top.

I think I shall give the supermarket garliuc a go, it says it is from Spain and as it wont be in all winter it seesm worth it. Nothing ventured nothing gained!

[David.]

That looks brilliant David, can I ask about the spacing?

9" between rows, 4" between small small varieties, and 5 to 6" between larger varieties (such as porcelain garlic).

I've updated my pics in post above and something that may be of interest is how Christo (a long storing garlic) - 3rd pic, 3rd row from LH side is doing better than Porcelain garlic - 4th row over - yes you have to look hard to see the first few, which are so much smaller than those planted in the autumn - see pic one.

So besides the general benefits/disbenefits of autumn/spring planting, there's your local soil conditions and specific  varietal needs to take into account + I like to spread them around a bit incase they get nwhite rot and can't be used/re-planted.