Garlic

[amo]

I never tried to grow garlic yet but would like to have a go.
But I have very heavy soil (right now it is concrete.
Do you think it will be still ok?
and which ones? When to plant?
I want to try the elephant one and another one.

Thanks
amo

[peter]

My soil is heavy Herts/Essex clay and garlic grows ok in it.

Repeated normal digging and manuring should lighten the surface layers with time.

Autumn or spring depending on type and your local climate. I normally plant Autumn, but due to various reasons planted late spring this year, result is mine is still all green while nearby plots have harvested already.

[sprout]

You could try planting the cloves shallower than usual, and mulching heavily - during the long growing season the worms should drag a lot of it into the soil, and you'll be able to mix it in at harvest time

[Pol]

When I moved in during autumn the first thing I planted was garlic and onions. I didn't realise until the weather turned that I had planted them in the worst possible place - waterlogged a lot of the winter and heavy and infested with mares tail! However I have just harvested some of the best onions and garlic ever! Was I just lucky or what?
Pol

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Pol, everybody deserves a bit of luck now and again, or was it a very clever bit of intuition on your part.

Kind regards Old Herbaceous.

Theres no fool like an old fool.

[Mike Vogel]

Hi amo.
I have grown garlic since getting an allotment in 2003. I use Thermidrome from the Organic Catalogue, which you plant in the autumn. It tended to get a bit mouldy, but this year it has done wonderfully.

I most definitely recommend Elephant Garlic. This year I got some, among other bulbs , from the Garlic Farm on the Isle Of Wight. All have produced a superb crop, but the Elephant is particularly flavoursome. What is more, each of the three bulbs which eventually matured was ringed with tiny little bulblets, so I am looking forward to being able to grow a whole row of the stuff and give lots away to gobsmacked friends and relations.

It is said that garlic likes soil with a lot of ash dug in and that it is important to keep the rows weed-free. I can confirm that one of my rows this year had to compete with self-sown calendula plants at one end this spring, and the bulbs at that end of the row were considerably smaller than those at the other end. So I think Pol must have magic powers.

Another variety sold by the Organic Catalogue is Printanor. This is only planted in Feb or March and I have generally been disappointed with it. I think garlic needs the winter rains and cold to get it going properly.

best of luck with your venture

mike