Garlic and fruit

Dunno but worth a try  

They'd need to be pretty large tubs Tinbasher. A lot of fruit bushes are shallow rooted despite tub depth. And growing the garlic right against the edges might stunt them a bit on one side as garlic roots prefer to spread on all sides. You could try it and see how it works out, but you'll need to add extra manure for the garlic which is a bit late to plant now anyway for anything other than a very small yield. They need slow, winter root setting time to develop proper crops.

And no, the fruit won't be garlic flavoured.

They are big tubs, about 19 inches diameter and almost 2 bushels in capacity.  I've had bushes in them now for 9 years and they're still going well and productively.  I didn't mean putting the garlic right up to the edge but nearer the edge than the centre, obviously away from the bush stem in the case of gooseberries and redcurrants.  I usually mulch the tubs around this time of year with a layer of well-rotted.

But I never knew that about planting time for garlic.  I thought they were a spring-planting thing like onions.  No wonder a lot of mine have been small.   :oops:

When is the optimum planting time then for garlic cloves?

Autumn. Also , really need more than an inch for them.

Thanks.  I meant more than an inch really, I have usually planted them at 2 or 3 inch deep.

Aye, the 'Veg and Herb Expert' by Hessayon says of garlic:  "Plant 2" deep, 6" apart, in March.

Mine go in at a 2" max depth, rarely to 3" which is a bit deep I find. I usually mulch mine in spring to hold in moisture and keep weeds down.

I plant my garlic in mid-September which gives the cloves time to set up some roots before winter freeze. Occasionaly the birds pull out a few but they're easily pushed back in. Others have massive pigeon raids so you might want to place some sort of netting around the garlic parts until the plants are larger. They'll eventually put up a stalk (aka scape) about 2 ft tall.