[viettaclark]

I'm starting another thread as some important questions have got overlooked in the depths of my first thread.
My garlic has rust and the stalks have been dying back for a while and getting really soft now.
Digging up a bulb it's
1) not as large as I expected
2) the papery sheath holding the cloves together in a bulb has not formed properly so the cloves are sticking out
We have more rain today and I'm concerned they'll rot (I have loads of fungi in the bed too!!)
Can I store them if the protective papery layers aren't there?
Why does this happen?
Do I dig up now?

Thanks guys!
 

[mumofstig]

1 - blame the weather
2 - blame the weather (the sheaths on mine were wet and rotting when I lifted them)

They should still dry for storage, mine seem to be drying ok. I'm using any really loose cloves now, as I need them.

Why does it happen? the weather this year is not ideal for garlic 

If the tops are dying back then lift now before they start to resprout

[viettaclark]

Thanks Mum. I'm off out into the grey cold wet day to dig them up.
I dried them in the kitchen last year hanging on butcher's hooks over the windows so here we go.........

[shokkyy]

What I want to know is how is it that everybody else but me seems to get their garlic bulbs beautifully clean? I have tried washing them after lifting, though I doubt that's wise when you're about to dry them out, and it didn't work. I've tried brushing off the mud when they're thoroughly dry. No matter what I do, they always look grubby.

[viettaclark]

I've just dug up 100 bulbs ranging in size from 1p to £2 (not too many of those!) and glad I did it as some halms are rotting and some are re-shooting.
I washed them in a bowl outside, shaking them violently in the water and used my thumb nail to scrape down the stalk and get rid of rusty loose layers to leave a long soft green/white stem. This was easy cos they were wet.(Shokkyy....you could try a soft toothbrush or sink brush but I didn't bother....they're still a bit dirty. Probably regret it when I come to use them and there's dirt all over the chopping board but ho hum)
I now have garlic that's ready to plait. Job for tonight.....
By the way (you can smack me Mum) this garlic is the 30p a bulb Spanish stuff (and it's got a real kick) from the greengrocer! I looked on my planting plan and I've been wrong since last November. Doh! So maybe I ought to re-name the thread!!!
The "Music" plants are still going strong and upright although they have rust and the bulbs have formed well but need to GROW GROW GROW!
So not too bad then.....

[viettaclark]

Whoops! Remembered they must be "cured" before plaiting. Last year I did it outside in the sun. This year it's a week or more on newspaper on the window sill!

[Trillium]

What I want to know is how is it that everybody else but me seems to get their garlic bulbs beautifully clean? I have tried washing them after lifting, though I doubt that's wise when you're about to dry them out, and it didn't work. I've tried brushing off the mud when they're thoroughly dry. No matter what I do, they always look grubby.

I never wash mine and they're often a bit grubby as well, but once the sticking soil dries, it's easy to pick off the dried bits but they'll never be pristine. Not to worry because it's not the papery covering that you're eating 

[mumofstig]

By the time you dry them, and pick off the loose papery covering - they are clean(ish)