[vineweevil1]

I bought a pack from the IOW Garlic farm last year and have lots of lovely dried garlic... Can I use some of these cloves to plant in October or should I buy some new bulbs???

Thanks

[pushrod]

Yes.

Edit : to planting your own not buying some more

[Beejay]

After planting your own grown garlic for a few season it will adapt to your soil and you can name it whatever! ie. Beejay Garlic

[Sadgit]

yep that is my plan for next year. Just ordered 2kg of porcelain garlic and will keep half and plant half next year.

[jolly jen]

i brought elephanr garlic form the IOW last year..eating some  planting the rest

[Trillium]

Just be aware that the UK has had a lot of garlic rust and garlic rot happening, so thoroughly check your garlic heads and cloves before storing and planting out so that you don't perpetuate these problems. Otherwise, yes, I save and plant my own garlic.

[Babyshoes]

A lot of our garlic had a sort of secondary bulb in the stem above the main bulb - I believe these are ok to eat, but would they also work for planting?

The cloves are a bit small in some of them so fiddly to peel for kitchen use, and we have saved them with the intention of planting them in the next couple of months...

[Trillium]

The top 'seeds' are on the 'scape', the name for the flowering head. You can plant the little teeny bulbs, but it will take about 3 years repeated replantings to get them to useful size. Also, the bulb's energy is diverted to the seedhead and you'll get a smaller  ground bulb. Most of us decide which we'd prefer; if you want a nice big bulb, snap off the seedhead as soon as you see it forming and use it in stir fries and such.

[Babyshoes]

I didn't know it was part of the scape, and I certainly didn't notice any flowers starting or I would have snapped them off. These are just a centimetre or two above the main bulb, not where I would expect the scape to be - on our elephant garlic flowers started forming which we took off, but still got the secondary bulbs...

Wierd things plants, and can be confusing when you start growing them - they are often nothing like the stuff you buy in the shops!  :happy:

[pushrod]

on our elephant garlic flowers started forming which we took off, but still got the secondary bulbs...

Wierd things plants, and can be confusing when you start growing them - they are often nothing like the stuff you buy in the shops!  :happy:

Just checking - you do know that elephant garlic is not a true garlic and is much weaker than ordinary shop bought garlic? 

[Babyshoes]

Just checking - you do know that elephant garlic is not a true garlic and is much weaker than ordinary shop bought garlic? 

Oh yes, we have had elephant garlic before from a market, that isn't what I meant at all! I wasn't referring to the taste, though that is sometimes different too. (Usually nicer!)

I meant that they look different and things like the garlic 'skin' is thicker on our own garlic, for example, or yellow courgettes that you don't get in the shops, and non-uniform, funny shaped veg etc. Also, sometimes the parent plant turns out to be completely different to how you imagine it from the veg you get in the shops - for example I always imagined things like calabrese and cauliflower being a low compact plant like a cabbage, but they actually get quite tall. I had no idea what to expect from an artichoke plant until I had some pointed out to me when we were visiting Italy about a year ago!

They also don't always do what you instinctively expect them to do - they grow bigger, they get extra bits like the extra garlic cloves, they need more or less water than you think - that sort of thing!

[vineweevil1]

Thanks all.

Trillium - I had rust on these garlic plants. Should I not use them, or is there som kind of treatment I can give them to either stop it spreading or prevent it happening?

I must admit I didn't treat it this year as just got too busy and too much conflicting advice on what to do about it.

[jolly jen]

on our elephant garlic flowers started forming which we took off, but still got the secondary bulbs...

Wierd things plants, and can be confusing when you start growing them - they are often nothing like the stuff you buy in the shops!  :happy:

Just checking - you do know that elephant garlic is not a true garlic and is much weaker than ordinary shop bought garlic? 

yes its part of the leek family,,,

[Hampshire Hog]

Vineweevil the rust question is interesting my garlic had a degree of rust but still seems to have produced a reasonable crop. Starting from "clean" stock sounds safer but it seems everyone on our allotments ends up with rust. Cheers HH