[flowergirl]

ok being new im a bit dumb, i dont know why i was made to listen to gardeners question time every sunday lunch since i was about 2 you would have thought something would have gone in!!!but to grow garlic do you need to buy special bulbs or can you just break up some shop brought stuff and chuck it in the ground?!?as i said V new to this

[Scribbler]

Yes you can plant stuff from the supermarket, suitably split into cloves, but the big debate is WHEN.................

Some say March, some say October, some say November. Some even specify the shortest day of the year.........

[agapanthus]

Yes you can but you won't get very good results. The garlic we buy in the supermarkets has probably been grown somewhere very warm, whereas if you buy garlic from a seedmerchant they will be more suitable for growing in this country.
I usually put mine in during september/October and they tend to be ok....apart from rust, which I'm plagued with

[WG.]

And some say anytime Aug thru Nov  

Not a major fan of the shop-bought stuff although I have done it myself in the past.  Some does okay but you may want to try several different kinds to hedge your bets.

Reason?  My theory is that a lot of stuff in the shops now is grown in S.Hemisphere, notably Argentina.  It's dormancy period will be out of phase for anyone in the N.Hemisphere.  Wait until Sep time before buying.

[Scribbler]

Carol recommends Purple Wight, Spanish Roja, Californian Late or Solent White AGM

[WG.]

Carol recommends

and Carol is ... ?

[flowergirl]

spanish roja sounds like wine yum!!

[Scribbler]

Klein

[Ice]

I'm with aggiepants here.  I've grown from supermarket garlic and not had much success.  However, my garden centre ones have done really well.

[ziggywigs]

Some of my garlic was v late going in this year....March, looked at it tonight and it's doing ok....at least going by the necks i thinking by end of the month will have some nice garlic cloves formed.

Normally i plant mine well before Christmas but got a tad behind in some areas.