Kitchen Garden Forum

Only a third of my elephant garlic bulbs have sprouted so I want to buy some more. I see D.T. Brown are offering 10 cloves for £11.95 as a "special offer" but with £4.95 postage this amounts to £16.90 which I think is expensive. Does anybody know where it might be available cheaper?

There are some on eBay quite a bit cheaper but I've never grown Elephant Garlic so I don't know how important clove size is.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20-X-Elephant ... Sw0wRZ54HP

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-Elephant-g ... 0009.m1982

Thank you Geoff. Now found 10 bulbs from Van Meulen at £9.98 + £3.95 postage which seem a better deal.

Primrose if you had put this on yesterday I could have got some for you at a ridiculous low price , I am a member of newton-Lee-willows members club it is a hut on the end of an allotment it's run independently by volunteers it costs us £4 a year to be a member ,my mate got my elephant garlic from there for me at 50 pence a bulb I managed eleven cloves from it unfortunately it closed today for winter ,it's the only place I know that's cheaper than Wilkinson , I'm a bit afraid of going I volunteered to work there but then my wife went down with cancer I have not had chance to apologize but I will sort it in the new year

Hi Primrose!

I was going to try some this year, but like you found the price prohibitive. Totally not worth what they are asking, even more so if you have a failed season. Not giving up but more research needed.

I thought I'd give it a try next year and bought a bulb from the D. T. Brown stand at Harrogate Show for £7.50 ish. They were large cloves and I got 7 from it. I hadn't expected them to cost even £7 so your prices seem very high and I'm a bit happier about what I paid. There aren't any signs of shoots yet but I suppose they will be rooting first in pots in the cold frame.

Primrose wrote:Only a third of my elephant garlic bulbs have sprouted so I want to buy some more. I see D.T. Brown are offering 10 cloves for £11.95 as a "special offer" but with £4.95 postage this amounts to £16.90 which I think is expensive. Does anybody know where it might be available cheaper?

There are two garden centres on Crown Lane, Farnham Royal, one is a Wyevale. Both should have elephant garlic.
Far too mild for my taste.

Pa, unfortunately the Wyevale closed down some months ago and is now the beginning of a housing site! Sign of the times !
Will visit to the other one when I’ve more time. . Husband has been confined to bed for past 10 days which is why I was going the easy route and searching internet.

Primrose wrote:Pa, unfortunately the Wyevale closed down some months ago and is now the beginning of a housing site! Sign of the times !
Will visit to the other one when I’ve more time. . Husband has been confined to bed for past 10 days which is why I was going the easy route and searching internet.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, that is part off my youth gone then !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Back in the 70's my father owned one of the biggest aquatic outlets in the south of England on that site. At the time the it was called Cedar Cottage Nursery and was independently owned, we rented a huge glasshouse and outside land from them and sold all manner of aquatic items for tropical aquariums and ponds, traded as Cedar Cottage Aquaria.

Colour me sad

Oh thats a sad disillusion Pa. There was subsequently another acquatic business on the site until a year or so before Wyevale closed down but it went downhill. I believe one of the partners died or something and the site became overgrown with weeds and barely looked operational. It was a shame because it became so badly unkept that I think many people thought it had already finished trading which probably put the final nail in the coffin.
We moved here in the mid 70s. I think I may just vaguely remember the closing stages of Cedar Cottage. The name certainly rings a bell. That’s onviously where your agricultural origins and enthusiasms were nurtured,

Subsequent aquatic business there was Chenies Aquatics once Wyevale took over the site.

Hope Mr P recovers soon

I think I have mentioned before I only grow garlic for my daughter. This year I have planted a row using last years left-over crop, and a row from my local supermarket. Three large bulbs for 70p. Both rows at the moment are neck and neck. Will be interesting to see what the outcome will be.

Always interesting to do comparisons and the best way is on home territory I think, as many species and varieties perform differently under different conditions. I've grown supermarket garlic as well as specifically ordered bulbs and am not sure I've ever noticed much difference in performance although I think one is generally recommended to buy only from reliable sources to avoid diseases. Not sure how reliable this advice is or whether it's just a ploy to increase profits of the wholesalers.