[Becky-Lou]

Hello All!

It's that happy time of year when I settle down to contemplate ordering next year's garlic (garlic is definitely my favourite thing to grow!).  Where do you all buy your bulbs for planting?  I have been looking at the usual suspects (Marshalls, etc. ) but the prices seem a bit on the steep side to me.

Thanks in advance 

[mumofstig]

Just bear in mind that you can save some of the harvest to plant for the following year, so it is worth buying decent stock to start with 

[goodtogrow]

Tesco or a greengrocer.

[mumofstig]

Tesco or a greengrocer.

Yes, you can but you stand the risk of introducing white rot to you plot. Seed garlic is certified as disease free

[allot2learn]

I've just ordered 4 bulbs of solent wight off fleabay for £4.99 + £2.50 delivery. 

[Steveharford]

I've just ordered a batch from the garlic farm. Not cheap at 4 bulbs for£10 but quality is important. No point in planting little cloves. I'm hoping and expecting that they will be a decent size. I also save the biggest bulbs from my harvest and will be planting only the biggest cloves from those also.

[JayG]

Mum's right on both counts - the initial cost isn't so important given that you can easily save bulbs for re-planting cloves from the following year.

I did get away with growing supermarket garlic donated by my neighbours, but I have "compensated" by growing it from saved cloves for the last 3 years to avoid pushing my luck. 

It's really not worth the risk though - white rot is very hard to get rid of once you've got it.

[Plot_29@_Lady_Mary]

Mum's right on both counts - the initial cost isn't so important given that you can easily save bulbs for re-planting cloves from the following year.

I did get away with growing supermarket garlic donated by my neighbours, but I got away with it and have "compensated" by growing it from saved cloves for the last 3 years to avoid pushing my luck. 

It's really not worth the risk though - white rot is very hard to get rid of once you've got it.

Opps! When I was on holiday in Florence last July, I bought some lovely organic Italian garlic of different varieties from a local supermarket there! I hope I won't be introducing any problems to my plot. It won't affect the whole plot but just that particular bed, am I right?

[JayG]

There are two issues really - you simply have no way of knowing if the bulbs were disease-free, and although white rot doesn't spread in the wind in the same way potato blight does, for instance, it's very persistent in the soil and easily spread around via gardening tools, wellies, or whatever.

(Not sure which July you are referring to and therefore whether you have already grown them - if you have, just keep your eyes peeled even more than the garlic!)

[seaside]

With a view to the biggest allium problem of all, white rot, where does this disease free certification of garlic bulbs at huge expense, fit in with other alliums we all purchase every year ?  I'm obviously thinking of most onion sets on sale that rarely,  if ever, state they are white rot free ? Does anyone know if they are ?

[JayG]

That's a surprisingly big subject Seaside - we live in a strange world now and if you dig deeper you may be like me and find yourself wondering whether "certification" means a great deal more than just "being in possession of the 'relevant' certificate!"

It still has to be a good idea to do what you can to minimise the risk of introducing disease from growing any sort of bought-in plant material though.

[Plot_29@_Lady_Mary]

I bought them this July JayG. Not sowed them yet but thinking of doing so maybe mid September. 

[seaside]

That's a surprisingly big subject Seaside - we live in a strange world now and if you dig deeper you may be like me and find yourself wondering whether "certification" means a great deal more than just "being in possession of the 'relevant' certificate!"

It still has to be a good idea to do what you can to minimise the risk of introducing disease from growing any sort of bought-in plant material though.

Thanks for your candid comment JayG, and yes, it's a huge subject that is all too common these days. My nose is still as accurate as ever.
Plot health is all important, who could disagree with that ? Hence my comments regarding onion sets.

There seems to be certain industry led cultural gossip norms where certain products like garlic have somehow managed some sort of faux soil health reasoning for cornering a "certified" market that doesn't apply to the far more ubiquitous onion set.... or young leek plants, for that matter that could have been grown in a white rot infected medium, with no check whatsoever. And with garlic, unlike potato, there is no possibility of citing it as an important "staple" food crop to enable such a certification.
I don't grow garlic anymore, I no longer eat enough of it or use enough as a plant aid to bother. But if I did, I know what I would do faced with a choice of spending £10 for 4 "certified" bulbs, or £1 for 4 supermarket bulbs.

[strider84]

Some supermarket bulbs are treated with an antisprouting agent.

[Daamoot]

I've ordered mine from http://www.simplyseed.co.uk.  2bulbs for £2 or 3 packs for £5, then £2 pp.  They deliver in Sept so will plant them once they arrive.  Also saved some larger cloves to plant from random ones that I grew last year from supermarket/organic veg box, they all did pretty well.