[RUSTYME]

Yes i know , it should be in already , but the land was like the Somme in December , and now it is under snow .
Anyway , i sorted the best of last years garlic , ready to plant when weather allows.
They went in late last year too , end of March, so are small .
I have 58 bulbs for planting , and they average about 7 cloves on each . So about 400 cloves .
I work on beds 30'x15' , so the rows are 15' long and thus i get about 45 plants per row . So that will be 9 rows . I may buy some extra in , just to compare a row of new with last years crop .
Still have 30+ bulbs for eating , but they won't last till the next crop is ready , not at the rate i eat the stuff , gotta keep the vampires at bay !
Hope the weather changes soon , i wanna get growing .

[doganjo]

I love it baked in olive oil with crusty bread.  Yum.  Mine isn't in the ground yet either.  Don't have a spade sharp enough to cut through the frost!

[happygolucky]

Garlic is sexy , mind you, I have never grown it but do put it in everything...you must eat it to keep warm?
 

[doganjo]

Easy to grow, Sandy.  I know you don't have animals or vegetables, or much ground, but you grow herbs in pots.  Do the same with garlic - buy a whole bulb, split into cloves and plant in a pot outside.  It tastes far better than the shop bought stuff.  Never thought of it as sexy I must admit - more the opposite due to the smell on your breath after eating it.

[happygolucky]

Trust me................Sexy

[sabrina]

Was lucky enough to get mine planted in November. Will just have to wait and see how it does.

[MAK]

Mine was just showing a few green shoots before being covered in snow last week. I think I ate an entire row of garlic over the weekend after my neighbour made brawn ( fromage de tete) with a pigs head I gave him. Never eaten so much raw chopped garlic in my life !!
Garlic should be up in June or early July so I can then use the ground for another veg.

[Olly398]

Late to this I know but I've got some garlic bulbs yesterday, cristo I belive, they are said to be okay for spring planting...
The ground is very wet right now, so how long should I wait before planting?
Thanks!

[feldar]

Absolutely love garlic but never grown it do i have to buy special bulbs, like seed potatos or can i just put shop bought cloves in the ground? sorry to be a bit dumb on this

[RUSTYME]

I planted mine in late March last year and still got a useful crop , still eating them now in fact .
Nothing you can do about the weather , so just plant as soon as the ground will allow .
I wouldn't plant them right before a period of hard frost though !
My ground is still like the Somme , so planting will have to wait for now .
Depending on how many you have , you could plant them in 3" plant pots , one clove per pot , and transplant later on .

[RUSTYME]

I just planted garlic i bought from tesco ,@ 3 for 90p , can't afford the 2 for £5 in seed catalogues .
I planted 149 cloves and got nearly 180 bulbs Perfectly ok , usable garlic with good strong taste . It was small , smaller than the parent bulbs , but i planted late and it was a terrible growing year .
So , it cost me £4.50 to plant 149 cloves , i got appx 180 bulbs at harvest .  I have 58 bulbs = 400+ cloves waiting to plant this year , appx 30 bulbs still to eat and have eaten 92 bulbs - some i gave away .
Buying from the catalogues would have cost me over £50 .
I do the same with spuds . I bought nicola , maris piper , charlotte and king edwards about 6 years ago . The king edwards gave a couple of years of crops till they got hit by blight .
Charlotte just got eaten , but i am still eating nicola and maris piper spuds each year . The maris piper give an excellent crop each year . I just keep enough from each lot to plant each year . Perfect , big clean spuds , cost about £1.50 6 years ago , no cost since .

[MAK]

Rusty I love the calculations and the predicted crop. Chopping it or crushing it into food is sexy as said above and the hint of it on others breath well... best left unsaid.
we buy it by the kg from a seller who comes up from the SW of France. Last years crop is keeping so well strung from the roof of an attic above our untility room. This years crops is showing green shoots now that the snow has retreated. We hope to lift it in "flaming June" but it really does taste  better after some heat.

[RUSTYME]

No sellers round here Mak  sadly . No money to buy in bulk in one go anyway , so i just bought 3 bulbs per week with my normal shopping , over 5 weeks or so = 15 bulbs .
Being a pauper can be a pain , but you get used to it .
The reason i kept 58 bulbs to plant was , i wanted 9 rows each with 45 plants in .
So i just counted , roughly , how many cloves per bulb to give me 405 plants .
7 cloves per bulb , average , = 58 x 7 = 406 .
Will most likely pop in a 10th row of bought in new stuff , to just  'go compare ' , lol .
I hate to think what the smell from me is like , especially when i get a bit warm walking ! I eat cheese and onion sarnies with 3 garlic cloves as well . Vampires don't come within 1 mile of me now !
Last years crop is holding up very well with me too .
I will run out before this years crop is ready , hence my planting 400-450 this year .
Just hope the plan works ?

[MAK]

Yeh - hope it works Rusty. We have to save up to go to a market that is held about 40 miles from us just once a month. Maybe we have been just 4 times but the garlic is dirt cheap. Sold to eat or plant it cost me about £2.50 for a large crop of violet garlic. It is a livestock market too so good fun. Our village shares seed spuds and shallots as well as the land to plant them in. It's amazing what a few eggs, a rabbit or a duck given to neighbours will yield but then we have no agenda other than enjoying and sharing with our neighbours.
Rabbit, cider, mustard, onions and carrots with GARLIC tonight. mmmm

[northfifeduckling]

mine is not out yet either, but I'm sure I forgot to harvest some last year due to the weed epidemic. They'll come again and I'll split them as soon as I can see them. They do stay smaller than newly planted but can't be helped...