[Yvie]

Hi All! I have just bought some garlic bulbs from Wilkinsons to grow. I haven't grown garlic before! Please can you tell me if I plant the whole bulb or break it into cloves, as it isn't clear on the pack. Thanks ever so! :-) Yvie

[maddave]

Break it up.  Each clove should grow a new bulb.  Well I hope it does, that's what I have done anyway!!

[Yvie]

Thank you! I would have put the whole bulb in :-O

[Maarten]

Hi Yvie,

Should be broken up and planted with the tips just below the soil surface. If we don't get extended cold periods anymore the bulbs may not split very well anymore before harvest time. Most garlic is planted before Christmas time to give them a proper winter cold. I quite like to use the growing plants in a similar way to spring onions though.  For that reason I also don't space them too far apart and take alternate plants out before harvesting the bulbs.

Best wishes,

Maarten

[Yvie]

Hi Maarten, thank you for the guidance too. I'll know next time to plant them later in the year for next year. Fingers crossed some grow! Yvie

[Maarten]

Hi Yvie,

The plants will grow just fine; no need to worry. The question is whether at the end of the season you are harvesting garlic bulbs with individual cloves, or something more resembling an onion in shape, which will probably not keep very long compared to properly ripened garlic bulbs.

All the best,

Maarten

[Yvie]

Hi again Maarten, If that is the case, can they still be eaten?
Kind regards,
Yvie

[mumofstig]

Yes, they're edible and there are varieties of garlic that are sold for spring planting - without any problems 

You just harvest them later............

RHS advice here
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=677

[Yvie]

Ah that's great. Thank you for your kind help. Best wishes, Yvie

[fatcat1955]

You need to plant so that the tip is at least 50mm below the surface.

[jondav14]

Garlic needs the frost to help the bulb to develop, but the round ones that develop without are just as nice, they just don't keep. I was once told by an old allotmenteer (rip) - garlic, sow on the shortest day, harvest on the longest day, any one else heard that saying?

[gavinjconway]

Garlic needs the frost to help the bulb to develop, but the round ones that develop without are just as nice, they just don't keep. I was once told by an old allotmenteer (rip) - garlic, sow on the shortest day, harvest on the longest day, any one else heard that saying?

I believe that's for shallots..

[Sparkyrog]

Agrees with JC 

[JayG]

Make sure you've got the clove the right way up (flat side down, pointed end up) and push into the soil so the tip is at least an inch below the surface (deeper in very light soils.)

If the soil is very heavy you may need to dib or dig holes to plant them in to avoid damaging the base of the clove from which the roots grow.

Don't wait for better weather - they need planting now to give them a chance of getting some 'cold-time' in the soil to promote splitting into cloves later.

[Headgardener22]

My understanding is that garlic needs frosts to split up well. (Hence the plant on the shortest day, harvest on the longest). They also need to be planted with their tips about 1 inch below the surface because the bulbs form below the surface (not like onions). I personally would have thought that you were late (possibly not too late) get them in straight away.