Garlic Question

[RogueRose]

Sooooo I know that not everything you get from the supermarket will necessarily sprout and grow or go to seed/grow fruit. If I take a garlic from the supermarket and plant the cloves will the cloves go to bulb?

[gumbo2176]

Sooooo I know that not everything you get from the supermarket will necessarily sprout and grow or go to seed/grow fruit. If I take a garlic from the supermarket and plant the cloves will the cloves go to bulb?

I tried that one year and it did grow but the bulbs that it produced were very small and almost not worth taking up the space to grow. But, who knows, other's may have had better success.

[RogueRose]

That's the problem I had this year - well, I got tiny itty bitty cloves. Some were big heads, some were small heads, but a lot of the cloves were small. I like bigger cloves and was hoping if I took the cloves of the ones I like in the store maybe I would get the bigger clove I'd like?

[rainbowgardener]

Well I planted store garlic and it grew like crazy and each clove turned into a huge head, looked more like elephant garlic, but I did not start with elephant garlic.

So it certainly works sometimes.

I planted about mid-October and just recently finished harvesting.

[applestar]

The big issue here is that garlic (like onions) are length of daylight sensitive depending on varieties. They are grouped into long day (northern states where the sun rises earlier and sets later during the summer) and short day (southern states) varieties. So if the garlic you bought at the supermarket was grown in the same region as your own garden, the planting them will work and you'll get garlic bulbs. I tend to think planting garlic from farmer's market would have more chance of success.

Larger cloves begets larger bulbs and usually larger cloves, BUT different variety garlic have different average clove size.

Where winter freeze is an issue, it's better to plant in the fall at about the same time as when you plant spring bulbs. In my area, that's about Columbus Day to early November. The planted cloves have time to grow roots and a bit of the top, but not too much that will be winterkilled or damaged, then they are mulched for protection while they go dormant in the winter, and resume growth in spring.

So, garlic is a great succession crop for planting after things that you would keep until the very end when frost kills them -- like tomatoes and peppers, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, last of the pole beans, etc.

My understanding is that where winter freeze/damage of the tops is not an issue, you can plant earlier in the fall for fuller top growth that will not die in the winter but continue to feed the plant. I do remember Marlingardener saying she plants her garlic in January though? So I still have some learning to do.

[RogueRose]

This is a great topic!

NJ - your area is my area! So I will follow what you do.

I think I am going to get some garlic from seedsavers this year...and also maybe try some from the store (wegmans).