[WG.]

can you plant garlic cloves now? if i planted now when would i expect to pull them?

also, does anyone know where to get hold of elephant garlic cloves fairly cheaply?

Yes you can plant garlic now for harvest in July 2008.  I've planted some already although main planting will be Sep/Oct.

I wouldn't advise elephant garlic - it is tasteless stuff.  Tasted stronger leeks.

[helluvatractor]

ah right, thanks whiskey, i'll give it a miss then.  i nearly bought some off ebay, i think they wanted £4 + £2 postage just for 4 cloves of the stuff. :shock:

i'll stick to the normal (and much cheaper ) garlic!

[mushroom]

can you plant garlic cloves now? i imagine so as they're not unlike leeks. if i planted now when would i expect to pull them?

also, does anyone know where to get hold of elephant garlic cloves fairly cheaply?

so far i've started off 'all the year round' lettuce in a tray in greenhouse, also leeks seeds, (lyon 2 prizetaker).  but these say on the packet to sow from feb to may, will they still be ok or should i get a variety specially for sowing this time of year?

might put in a few more carrots (straight into ground) and maybe the garlic,  (i've got about a 12 ' square piece of ground left)

Well, I got my plot at "the wrong time of year" regarding planting for harvest (14th June this year), and I'm planting whatever perennial I can get. My own opinion on when to plant veers less on temperature but more on sunlight and rainfall. I'm hoping that I can overwinter what chili plants come up so they get a flying start next year.

My onions are going in soon - I'm planting them in pots to transplant later. I doubt this is the 'correct way of doing it' but, hopefully this way I can make my own 'sets', but bear in mind that presently I don't know what a 'set' is  :shock:

[love-my-plot]

I'm in a similar position, Mushroom. Got my plot late on as well.
So, like you, I'm sort of chancing my arm with stuff  

They way the seasons are all over the place anyway, we just
might get away with it  I mean look at this "summer" what a joke!
And look at last winter .. it was very mild.
I did quite a bit in the garden this year, before I got my plot.
Since clearing most of the plot over the past 6 weeks , I've gone
ahead & sown carrots, peas, lettuce, parsely and planted the onion sets I had left over from earlier in the year. Fingers crossed!  The rest of the plot is just dug, manured & covered over (well most of it is)

Now we'll just wait & see what happens ... good luck with your new lottie!

[helluvatractor]

from what little i know, you can plant onions from seed or from sets, sets are little baby onions that have been brought on from seed about the size of a large marble. which you then plant in the ground.  i think onions from seed take a long time to get to this size.

thats what i'd like to ask the more experienced of us here :at this time of year,  would i be better off sowing seed in the ground or sets? and when would i be looking at harvesting? ( i presume next year??)

[splodger]

sow you onion seeds in sept / oct and let them overwinter in your seed bed - then transplant the sets into your onion bed in the spring - you must use the right variety though - as some seed will not overwinter that well.

[mushroom]

I'm in a similar position, Mushroom. Got my plot late on as well.
So, like you, I'm sort of chancing my arm with stuff  

They way the seasons are all over the place anyway, we just
might get away with it  I mean look at this "summer" what a joke!
And look at last winter .. it was very mild.

Now we'll just wait & see what happens ... good luck with your new lottie!

Thanks  

I agree with you regarding seasons. We don't really get seasons, we just get weather.

Since this time last month, I'm growing:

1. cabbage
2. purple sprouting broccoli
3. red basil
4. lemon basil
5. rocket
6. "french salad"
7. blackcurrant canes
8. mint
9. sage
10. coriander
11. thyme
12 F1 chili plants (6 of)

I've rotovated 4/5ths of the plot. 2/5ths will be used for potato, 1/5 for onions. I've applied fertilizer to this, and scattered mustard for green manure. Will be rotovating that in 3 or so weeks, then it will be nearly time to plant spuds. I've planted a couple of hundred onion seeds into pots. When they've grown into sets, I'll be planting them out in a row next to where the spuds grow.

So, even though i thought it was the "wrong time of year", I'm still busy  

[love-my-plot]

Well done!
We didn't rotavate coz of all the horror stories about chopping weed roots into billions of pieces ... so we strimmed it down then dug it all over.... hard work, but it's stayed fairly weed free so far, so think it was worth it!! Looking forward to getting stuck in properly with the sowing & planting next year  

[mushroom]

Well done!
We didn't rotavate coz of all the horror stories about chopping weed roots into billions of pieces ...

I think that's propaganda spread by the anti-rotovator agency
Seriously though, how's rotovating different from digging, if only by degree?
I think it might be that some weeds are better rotovated than others though.
Anyhow, good luck with your plot.

[love-my-plot]

@ propaganda  

Well I think the difference is that rotavating doesn't go as deep as digging.
We were able to get most roots out because we went deep enough with the spade.  I s'pose it'll be an ongoing battle with weeds again eventually, but for now, we're winning