GARLIC HELP!!!!

[super_stripy_sox]

I need some help with my garlic. I've been growing it for a while now I have no idea how to tell whether it's ready or not. Can you give me any tips? sorry if it's a bit big or blury but you should be able to tell what it is!

[img]https://usera.imagecave.com/artyclare/S1050073.JPG[/img]
[img]https://usera.imagecave.com/artyclare/S1050071.JPG[/img]

[hendi_alex]

Always cut the seed head when it starts to form. Cut it as close to the top of the plant as possible. I have read that the bulbs will be 20-30% smaller if you let the plant channel all of that energy into seed production. I never harvest garlic until the top growth has died as figured as long as the plant is green, it is growing and storing food in the form of those growing bulbs and cloves.

My method is to let the tops turn brown, pull the whole plant and then set them in a safe dry location to dry and cure for at least a couple of weeks. Later you can braid them or cut of the tops just above the bulb, or however you wish to store them until use.

[SG6]

Just grown a reasonable crop of garlic this year and managed to pick at what seems to have been a good time. So here is a short list of what I did.

Placed the cloves, whole garlic, in the fridge for a couple of weeks before planting. They need to get cold in order to form separate cloves when grown otherwisw they seem top form one bulb and in my experience it is never of any size - last years attempt went this way.

Planted the cloves early spring.

Harvested them when half the leaves had turned brown, some still green(ish) (Early August). You could probably wait a little longer but something I read said if they stay in too long then they deteriorate as in get a bit smaller. Half brown worked for me.

Seems that you can plant cloves about Oct and let them over winter, so that is what I will do with some this year. As HA said snip off the heads as you don't want energy going into seed formation.

Seem easy to grow but I think that you have to get them cold for a while for them to form separate cloves. I used a garlic from a supermarket and what I have is of a similar size. So no complaints. Just want to find a visiting French market and try one of the larger varieties they tend to sell.

[hendi_alex]

I grew elephant garlic for several years. Not a true garlic but easy to grow. We eventually became addicted to true garlic therefore gave up on the elephant garlic effort. Previously I had randomly bought some garlic, maybe even used some from the grocery store. Planted it similarly to elephant garlic in the fall. The cloves never did much, turned into very small bulbs and very tiny cloves. The plants had a very short growing season in the spring and turn brown without much bulb formation. When reserching this year, an article said that garlic is easy to grow in the south, you just have to chose the right variety. I immediately found a supplier that has garlic grouped according to regional suitability and placed an order. Am looking forward to getting my bulbs this fall and raising my own crop next year.

Ordered from a place called The Garlic Store.

[url]https://67.199.35.172/ZenCart/index.php?main_page=page&id=13&chapter=0&zenid=fdqjkvdadbul0b7a6e18hvmf84[/url]

[super_stripy_sox]

Thanks for the help! I'm new at gardening and not sure what to do. I'll put on some pic when I havest (mostly to show of! ) All my leave have fallen of. Should I harvest it now?

[hendi_alex]

Answers to most ordinary questions are just a google away. Here is what appears to me to be a very good article on planting, care, and harvest of garlic.

[img]https://www.garlicfarm.ca/growing-garlic.htm[/img]

[SG6]

If all the leaves have died then get them out of the ground. They will not get bigger without leaves and may get smaller so no point in them remaining in.

[alexis tomato]

I've grown garlic in Montreal for several years. Plant it in late Oct in well prepared earth with compost turned in, and mulch with dry leaves. It is ready to pull around mid to late July when 2/3 of the plant has turned brown. Find it makes no difference whether I cut off the seed heads or not.

The seeds from the heads can be planted in a small space, very close together, and make nice spring greens.

p.s. should not be watered too much during the last month of growth.
I save the picked garlic over winter by storing in a paper bag in a cool and dry place.

If you've never grown garlic, you don't know what you are missing

[super_stripy_sox]

I think that it's ready to come out now. thank you for all your help and I'll deffinately come here when I face problems in my next set of garlic .