[Anguswylie]

Hi,

I had some of these, Picture attached. I'll call them "nodules" because I've no idea of the correct term. From my garlic last yer. I put them in a trough with compost and hoped they would grow.  Nothing. The cloves next to them grew, but none of the "nodules". Now I've got some more. How do I grow them?

All ideas are welcome.

[Mr Dog]

I grew them by just sticking them into compost in modules and waiting. They took a while to get going but produced good strong plants in the end. They've been planted out around my gooseberries in an attempt to keep sawfly away. I'm not sure they'll produce big bulbs/cloves this year but I'll be having a look when they go over.

[timdunn]

I had exactly the same outcome from planting my nodules in pots in November, then leaving in greenhouse for 6 months. I dug them all up but no sign of life. I wonder if it’s the really thick skin they have around them? Might try again this year and remove half of their ‘jackets’.

[mumofstig]

From cloves that you grew last year, or from bulbils that form on the flower head? The bulbils are a completely different story.....
For cloves, I just stick some of back in the ground after mine are harvested, the first year they tend to grow just a single 'bulb' like a fat leek bottom. For most of them, it isn't 'til the 2nd year that they split into huge cloves like proper elephant garlic.
If you leave some cloves in the ground each year you can end up with a perennial elephant garlic patch, if you're lucky 

[Anguswylie]

mumofstig
...or cloves, I just stick some of back in the ground after mine are harvested, the first year they tend to grow just a single 'bulb' like a fat leek bottom. For most of them, it isn't 'til the 2nd year that they split into huge cloves like proper elephant garlic. ...
 
Does this mean Elephant Garlic is effectively a Bi-annual, rather than an annual?

What happened to the "Bulbils?

Thanks.

[timdunn]

From cloves that you grew last year, or from bulbils that form on the flower head? The bulbils are a completely different story.....
For cloves, I just stick some of back in the ground after mine are harvested, the first year they tend to grow just a single 'bulb' like a fat leek bottom. For most of them, it isn't 'til the 2nd year that they split into huge cloves like proper elephant garlic.
If you leave some cloves in the ground each year you can end up with a perennial elephant garlic patch, if you're lucky 

They are not bulbils but small ‘mini cloves’ that grow around the bulb. About the size of a crocus bulb and darker, and thicker skinned, than the cloves within the main bulb.