I pulled up some garlic today. I have never grew it before, so was surprised to find a small (1/2 inch) tiny little yellowy white onion type thing attached to the roots of the garlic bulb. It was right at the base of the garlic and there was a littel dent in the garlic where the wee littlething had sat and grown. Does anyone know what the little yellow thing is? It looks like a onion set but smaller
garlic growing question??
- Thread starter mr dazzler
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It's just an offshoot of the garlic bulb, akin to a lily bulb scale - another way for the bulb to reproduce. Just remove it and use it if you want, or you could pot it up and try and grow it on.
It is.
Out of interest, when do you plant? My first attempt was in early Spring and I got very small bulbs. When I started planting late season (sort of when daffs etc start doing their thing, October time), I got absolutely huge bulbs. I was only planting the supermarket cloves, I'd never use anything else now.
We're lucky to be on chalk, garlic likes good drainage, but even so I rotavated to a good depth each year.
Garlic needs to be in the ground by late October/early November; this gives the roots a chance to get established, then the bulb will sit and wait for spring to start into growth. It needs a period of cold to grow properly and form separate cloves; if it doesn't get the required cold, it will just form single bulbs like wee onions. Supermarket cloves are fine, but be wary of saving them for replanting over more than a couple of years as they can become diseased, lack vigour etc. Buy in new bulbs every couple of years to avoid this. Bulbs bought from seed/plant suppliers should be guaranteed disease and virus free. HTH
Thanks for the helpful replies
. I just had another look at the wee offspring and it appears to be in segments like garlic is.
I planted mine at the end of april, so its been in around 12 weeks. I planted just one clove at a time from seed bought at wilko's (not sure of that was the right thing to do?) our soil in this part of Norfolk is sandy (and any amount of flint) and well drained. The bulb I picked up today is about 2 inch diameter, after seeing the pitiful onions I wasnt expecting the garlic to have done so well... theres other garlic still in the ground so will be interesting to see how they increase! got 4 pound of greengages off the tree as well today. I pruned it to within an inch of its life last november, I am expecting much more fruit next year, only the old branches bore fruit this year but theres a stack of healthy new growth.
cheers Jonathan
. I just had another look at the wee offspring and it appears to be in segments like garlic is. I planted mine at the end of april, so its been in around 12 weeks. I planted just one clove at a time from seed bought at wilko's (not sure of that was the right thing to do?) our soil in this part of Norfolk is sandy (and any amount of flint) and well drained. The bulb I picked up today is about 2 inch diameter, after seeing the pitiful onions I wasnt expecting the garlic to have done so well... theres other garlic still in the ground so will be interesting to see how they increase! got 4 pound of greengages off the tree as well today. I pruned it to within an inch of its life last november, I am expecting much more fruit next year, only the old branches bore fruit this year but theres a stack of healthy new growth.
cheers Jonathan
Yes, split each bulb into cloves and plant them separately, but in the autumn. I have seen varieties that have been bred for spring planting, but I've not tried them, am a bit stuck in my garlic growing ways.
My own crop isn't looking wonderful - the winter here was too mild.
I have greengage envy! lol, a favourite of mine, am trying to find a space to shoehorn one in here.
My own crop isn't looking wonderful - the winter here was too mild.
I have greengage envy! lol, a favourite of mine, am trying to find a space to shoehorn one in here.
With the gages, take out excess branches, the tree will be putting its energy into new growth. A bit of stress tends to put them into propagation mode. It's a survival instinct thing, it needs to produce as much seed as possible, hence a good crop.
And as above, plant the garlic in Autumn, you'll get well developed bulbs. Weed them out regularly to keep the ground dry, don't water them ever. Only a very wet and warm winter will see them rot, but otherwise they're very hardy.
And as above, plant the garlic in Autumn, you'll get well developed bulbs. Weed them out regularly to keep the ground dry, don't water them ever. Only a very wet and warm winter will see them rot, but otherwise they're very hardy.
Thanks again for your comments and tips. I'll plant some more in October!
Last year ALL our greengages was robbed by the birds (especially blue tits greedy things) This year I fettled that with a huge great plastic owl, kept them away like a dream, I think it scared them nearly to death actually, only pigeons magpies and the occasional starling (and a rogue green woodpecker looking for ants) came near the garden never mind the greengage tree LOL. I just moved it around once a day to stop them getting complacent..... As I said I pruned the greengage tree HARD last backend till there was not much left, but now I have hundreds of new branches....they were literally growing at least an inch a day, you could watch them grow almost. Some of them I will prune next autumn and get the thing back in healthy shape.
cheers Jonathan
Last year ALL our greengages was robbed by the birds (especially blue tits greedy things) This year I fettled that with a huge great plastic owl, kept them away like a dream, I think it scared them nearly to death actually, only pigeons magpies and the occasional starling (and a rogue green woodpecker looking for ants) came near the garden never mind the greengage tree LOL. I just moved it around once a day to stop them getting complacent..... As I said I pruned the greengage tree HARD last backend till there was not much left, but now I have hundreds of new branches....they were literally growing at least an inch a day, you could watch them grow almost. Some of them I will prune next autumn and get the thing back in healthy shape.
cheers Jonathan
Garlic appears to have been cultivated by humans for so many millennia that natural pollination is normally a failure in this day and time.
At the same time, humans have inadvertently selected garlic for the ease of vegetative propagation (from the planted cloves).
I do not know what the mean frost-free growing period is, here at 53N. In the valley, the microclimate does tend to funnel cold air frosts
in both the spring and the fall. Can't predict from one year to the next except that there is a very large annual crop of garlic.
By that I mean hobby gardeners growing crops of 1,000 - 2,000 plants.
Spring planting seems to produce smaller, sweeter cloves. Fall planting produces much more robust and larger heads which have better after-harvest storage qualities.
I buy both, locally. Right now, I have some spring-planted heads, not too stinky. Have an order in for 3kg in the fall harvest. Quite pungent, to say the hleast.
At the same time, humans have inadvertently selected garlic for the ease of vegetative propagation (from the planted cloves).
I do not know what the mean frost-free growing period is, here at 53N. In the valley, the microclimate does tend to funnel cold air frosts
in both the spring and the fall. Can't predict from one year to the next except that there is a very large annual crop of garlic.
By that I mean hobby gardeners growing crops of 1,000 - 2,000 plants.
Spring planting seems to produce smaller, sweeter cloves. Fall planting produces much more robust and larger heads which have better after-harvest storage qualities.
I buy both, locally. Right now, I have some spring-planted heads, not too stinky. Have an order in for 3kg in the fall harvest. Quite pungent, to say the hleast.
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