[Will1983]

hi im looking for a bit of advise, last year i grew some garlic but it didnt do to well, it tasted fine but the bulbs didnt swell up and split into individual cloves. they looked like small (ping-pong ball sized) onions.

this year however im determined to do better so ive bought the Thompson & Morgan garlic pack so got quite a selection.
http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/other-vegetables/onions-and-garlic-sets/garlic-grow-all-your-own-collection/aww4068TM

the soil on my plot it fairly heavy with plenty of clay in it on a north facing slope but recieves fairly constant sun as nothing over shadows it. ive not done a pH test yet this year but last year it was quite acid due to its unuse for the past decade and a half. ive got about a cubic meter of 12month old cow muck to spread on the plot in the next couple of weeks.

has anyone got any ideas as to what i can do to achieve a bumper crop of garlic this year?

[DD.]

You're not going to lose anything by planting now, but I prefer planting in late autumn, so that the plants will get the cold that they need to encourage them to split into cloves.

If this lot don't work, try that at the end of this year.

[fatbelly]

I bought my Garlic last autumn from T&M and the bulbs (Laurent White) were really big. I planted them last November in pots and put them out a few days ago.
In pots the leaves had grown to about 3 inches but since putting them in the plot they have shot up.

Good Luck and like DD says best planted in the autumn but get then in quick now.

Also I have just noticed on the link that you supplied to T&M the items that you have bought are not being dispatched to Autumn  this year so you won't get a crop this season if these are the ones you have purchased.  

[DD.]

  Also I have just noticed on the link that you supplied to T&M the items that you have bought are not being dispatched to Autumn  this year so you won't get a crop this season if these are the ones you have purchased.   

Good spot!

[Will1983]

oh im such a muppet!! cheers for spotting that i would have been wondering where they were! i read it but for some reason i thought it was from August 2010 to spring 2011.

i'll have to buy some more now then. i know i should have got them in last month but i was working away from home. hopefully they should be ok going in a bit late.

so should i be adding the muck or leave it like you do for onions?

[Kristen]

You may struggle to get Winter Planting Garlic (rather than Spring Planting) now - and it will need some cold weather to get it to "clove up" - which we may not get (dunno if you can use Fridge or Freezer as a substitute for actual Winter?)

[Will1983]

i was going to pop the cloves in the freezer for a few days just in case we didnt get any more cold weather.

[chrisnchris]

I found these if you're interested

http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/Spring-Garlic-Planting-Pack-9602F43967.aspx

Seems damned expensive though.

The company does farmer's markets near us sometimes, so I think I'll buy a couple of bulbs for cooking & plant up a few cloves.
£9 does seem a bit steep..........perhaps I'm a bit tight

[Will1983]

your not tight i wouldnt pay £9 for 4 bulbs either.
i'll just pop down the local Garden centre this weekend, i think they are selling 3 bulbs for about £2.50-£3.00

[Kristen]

your not tight i wouldnt pay £9 for 4 bulbs either.

Uninws (picked at random, but representative) : 2 Bulbs (Approx 20 Cloves) / Sufficient for a 30ft row £4.75

i think they are selling 3 bulbs for about £2.50-£3.00

If its Winter garlic, and has been sat at "room temperature" for several months (which will be the case in my local garden centre) they will have used up quite a lot of their energy just "shrivelling"

Assuming your's don't get disease it should be possible to replant cloves from your own harvest for years to come ... so the initial investment may not be all that great.

[SG6]

I chilled mine in a fridge for 2 weeks some years back, they formed cloves so that seemed to do the trick.

Probably depends on how cold the fridge is. Freezer may damage the cloves but then again my went in the ground before the cold spell and are doing fine and they must have gotten pretty cold during that.

[bigben]

I have been impressed with the stuff from the Really Garlicky garlic company
http://www.reallygarlicky.co.uk/garlic
 it produces bulbs with fewer but fatter cloves than most other types which makes it easier to peel. It is grown in Scotland so is used to less than scorching weather. Unfortunately the postage does add up unless you buy in bulk 6 bulbs works out at £4 plus £3.75 postage still cheaper than the garlic farm. However 30 bulbs only has £5.50 postage

[Chiswickian]

I am going to plant Solent Wight this weekend. The general advice for that seems to be that an early spring planting is best...perhaps I am impatient but I am itching to do something. I will start them in modules as the ground is too claggy at present. Maybe I will chill half in the fridge and keep the others outdoors before planting out. Then it'll only be 6 months or so to see which does best!

[DD.]

The general advice for that seems to be that an early spring planting is best

The people that actually supply them say December/January is the best!

http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/Solent-Wight-Seed-x-3-Bulbs-0B6E4CC85B.aspx

[Chiswickian]

I didn't buy them from the Garlic Farm. I looked around on the interweb thingy and found many references to early spring being best for this variety including this from Marshalls.
 
http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/solent-wight-garlic-pid2434.html

I'll see which method works best though parts of my plot have the rot and I may be wasting my time