[teflon]

Is there an advantage to planting garlic from the garden center,rather than the stuff i get from the greengrocers?(bearing in mind that the garden center stuff is about 5 times more expensive)
  Also a friend has offered to "split" some rhubarb crowns for me to grow on my plot.I,ve heard that you dont always get fruit in the first year from a "split" crown and it could be wiser to but some  thats ready to fruit.Is there any truth in this?
  Cheers.
  Tel.

[teflon]

Oh yeah, splitting a crown sounds to me like cutting it in half with a spade &re-plantintg one half of it. Is it as simple as this?
  Cheers.
  Tel.

[bigben]

The seed garlic you get from garden centres etc should be certified virus free while stuff from the supermarkets will not be. You risk introducing nasties into your soil which can last a long time.

That said - like you I spotted the big price difference and this year tried an experiment in a section of my garden - not my allotment- where I planted supermarket garlic. I chose types from M&S and waitrose - choosing the big types preferably grown in the UK. One of the problems with sowing supermarket garlic is it is often from much warmer countries and does not do well here. I managed to find some big bulb types including something called "really garlicky garlic" which is grown in Scotland. Even at M &S prices it was a third of the price of seed garlic and my garlic this year is looking much bigger than the stuff I grew last year from seed garlic. A friend told me he saves some of his garlic to plant year after year and it gets used to the climate here - we will have to see.

I may live to regret it if the bit I am growing in becomes infected with something horrible but at the moment it looks really good.

[penance]

As bigben said, super market garlic can be very unreliable for growing as it is often from warmer climate areas.

Whatever you do with rhubarb it will need at least one season growth before you can harvest, whether split crown or buying bare root.
A bit of patience and you will be rewarded in years to come.

[noshed]

When planting your chunk of rhubarb make sure the hole is full of compost/well-rotted manure. This will get it going nicely as it is a heavy feeder.
I have quite a large patch and last autumn I mulched it thickly with compost and manure. It sat happily through the snow and now I've got the biggest crop of rhubarb you've ever seen. It is keeping the whole office happy.

[willowman]

Noshed, when you say "keeping the whole office happy" do we assume you also mean "regular"?

I read that new rhubarb should be left the first year ie don't pull any, so that goodness from the leaves can go back into the plant. In the second year you can pull until the end of July, then leave about 4 stalks and leaves so that, again, goodness can be transferred back to the plant.

I always remember my childhood (early 50's) when I would go down the garden, pull a rhubarb stalk, cut off the root and leaf, get some sugar in a paper bag and happily sit dipping the rhubarb in the sugar and eating it. Now I know why my Mum was so happy to let me do this, kept me regular (but ruined my teeth).

[Yorkie]

I think the end of July is a little late to stop pulling rhubarb.  Traditionally it is mid-June, I think.

[digalotty]

yes yorkie i have read that june is the time to let it grow on