[SnooziSuzi]

HI all,

does anyone know anything about elephant garlic?  I planted some cloves in December and they shot up, but in the recent dry spell (not now, obviously ) it looks as if some of them have bolted.

will the cloves be OK to eat when they mature later in the year if I let the flower develop?  I've pulled the flower head off 2 of them but a few more have flowers developing and I am interested to know what they look like.

considering elephant garlic is actually a member of the leek family I think they will be like alliums, but if it adversely affects the bulbs then I don't want them to grow!

[realfood]

Taken from my website:-
Elephant Garlic produces a flower spike some 1.5 m high with a pretty pinkish globular head of small flowers, much loved by bees. Indeed, it would not be out of place at the back of a flower border.

To get the biggest cloves of Elephant Garlic, the flower bud should be removed as soon as it appears to conserve the energy of the plant. As the flower spike grows in between the cloves, it does not affect the keeping quality of the cloves.

[SG6]

I thought that elephant garlic didn't produce cloves.

[DD.]

The ones I grew produced cloves. Pity about the flavour - or at least the lack of it!

[wighty]

Elephant garlic has a totally different taste ofit's own. Roasted and then spread on bread is gorgeous(sp).It is a different cultivar from normal garlic as it is ;more 'leek'  in it's parentage. The advce from THE GARLIC FARM is to cut off the flowering heads.

[purplebean]

Old thread but I was just about to post that my elephant garlic has bolted when I decided to search first. Looks as if mine has done so at exactly the same time of year. I'll cut the flower bud off when I get home. Thought I would resurrect the thread just in case it has happened to anyone else, seem to be a June thing!

[SnooziSuzi]

well, mine has bolted again but I think that it is just a normal thing, like shallots.

the flower stem isn't coming from a bulb like an onion, and so it doesn't make a bit of difference, I found out! the bees like the flower too and it lasts for ages in a cut arrangement

[mobilekat]

I have this scary vision of bolting elephants (strangely dressed in pyjamas coming down the stairs- blame Disney!)

think I need to get out more!

[realfood]

When elephant garlic is planted in the Autumn, it normally produces 5 or 6 very large cloves. If it is only planted for a short time or the growth is interrupted in some way, it will sometimes produce a large round, which is very good roasted.

[Elcie]

well, mine has bolted again but I think that it is just a normal thing, like shallots.

the flower stem isn't coming from a bulb like an onion, and so it doesn't make a bit of difference, I found out! the bees like the flower too and it lasts for ages in a cut arrangement

That sounds good.  I think I will grow it next year for a change.  I have left some leeks to go to seed this year to see the flowers so might go with the elephant garlic in the autumn.  Like the idea of spreading it on toast as one of the other posters mentioned too.