shop garlic growing?

General tips / questions on seeding & planting

Moderators: KG Steve, Chantal, Tigger, peter

User avatar
dan3008
KG Regular
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

I'm really confused today. In this months kitchen garden mag, in the question time, Bob Flowerdew specifically stated not to grow supermarket potatoes, garlic and onions... All my potatoes and garlic are grown from the supermarket. Basically, I plant them rather than bin them when they start growing.

Is it actually as bad as bob suggests? Should I stop doing it? Or is is one of them things where I should be aware there could be problems but its really wether I think its worth the risk?
Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Anonymous

Exploring is like walking, where the walking decides where we're going. Bob the dinosaur from dinopaws
Westi
KG Regular
Posts: 5910
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:46 pm
Location: Christchurch, Dorset
Has thanked: 674 times
Been thanked: 238 times

Deffo your choice Dan numbers!

I grow from bought crops from the supermarket - sometimes, but most have been affected from growth inhibitors! Buy organic if you do consider!

Westi
Westi
User avatar
dan3008
KG Regular
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

Westi
I always buy organic potatoes, but the garlic isn't, and has grown really well, I've got some bulbs over 1 1/2" across :D they just need to split now
Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Anonymous

Exploring is like walking, where the walking decides where we're going. Bob the dinosaur from dinopaws
User avatar
Tony Hague
KG Regular
Posts: 691
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2005 5:26 pm
Location: Bedfordshire
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 13 times
Contact:

Potential pitfalls are importing disease - I guess the potatoes are the worst risk. Blight needs live potato material to overwinter, seed potatoes are grown where they are less likely to be affected. Growth inhibitors - potatoes that have been stored are treated to prevent chitting (some stuff that sublimes, can't remember what it is, but getting even depostion on potatoes was an area of research for my old employer). Finally, and perhaps the bigger risk, is the gamble that you don't always know what you're planting, especially garlic. It might grow perfectly happy in the South of France, Kenya or somewhere, but not here ! Some shop bought garlic will only give you tiddly little cloves over here, but you seem to have found some that works for you.

What explanation did Bob Flowerdew offer ?

Sometimes it is worth breaking the rules a bit.
User avatar
dan3008
KG Regular
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

Thanks Tony, Very informative. I shouldn't be surprised. I think thats been my problem this year having lost 1/2 my crop to blight (although nothing in the tomatoes thank goodness). Guess I've got lucky with garlic. Maybe its because the most recent one I planted growing cloves from was a "local" variaty from tesco, and the other was from the isle of wight garlic festival, a friend got it for me while there.

Tony Hague wrote:What explanation did Bob Flowerdew offer ?

All he says really is that there is a "high risk of introducing problems" so your response is actually more informative and useful :) Thanks
Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Anonymous

Exploring is like walking, where the walking decides where we're going. Bob the dinosaur from dinopaws
User avatar
Pawty
KG Regular
Posts: 604
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:12 pm
Location: Hampshire

Hi,

My experiment last year with garlic grown from a farmers market in Spain didn't go well. They looked promising at first (really big plants) but all got rot which I can't help think was introduced by the garlic..... So never again, and back to buying the seed from a supplier from now on ... And will have to be in a new area of the site which has been carefully prepared ... Unlike this years... Some were great, half were little. All of this years were from a supplier.

Pawty
Westi
KG Regular
Posts: 5910
Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:46 pm
Location: Christchurch, Dorset
Has thanked: 674 times
Been thanked: 238 times

The fact that my garlic was a total disaster & from certified suppliers this year I was seriously considering buying some from the supermarket that looked good. I've had excellent results previously from bought bulbs. I think I still might, but might look at country of origin.

Westi
Westi
PLUMPUDDING
KG Regular
Posts: 3269
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:14 pm
Location: Stocksbridge, S. Yorks

If you buy some good cloves of a variety that you like and save your own you won't have any problems. I bought mine from Marshalls over ten years ago and haven't needed to buy any since. They are a hard neck variety with a purple tinged skin and were advertised as being selected to do well in the U.K. They still produce good sized cloves and keep well. I plant them in pots when they start sprouting and let them grow in the cold frame until the weather is suitable to plant them out in late Feb.early March.
User avatar
dan3008
KG Regular
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

Yeh once money is sorted I intend on buying properly selected garlic, from Marshalls or another seed supplier. For now its just been a case of planting cloves that have started growing in the fridge. I find they go bitter once roots start to show
Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Anonymous

Exploring is like walking, where the walking decides where we're going. Bob the dinosaur from dinopaws
User avatar
dan3008
KG Regular
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

dan3008 wrote:Westi
I always buy organic potatoes, but the garlic isn't, and has grown really well, I've got some bulbs over 1 1/2" across :D they just need to split now

Just to follow up on this. I harvested my 2 biggest bulbs today (and the small one, but that ended up a mono-garlic...) each had over 20 small cloves inside... I say small, about 1/2 the size of a "normal" clove in a bulb you'd get from the shop... Still, they are lovely and sweet/strong garlic :D
Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Anonymous

Exploring is like walking, where the walking decides where we're going. Bob the dinosaur from dinopaws
User avatar
Johnboy
KG Regular
Posts: 5824
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2005 1:15 pm
Location: NW Herefordshire

I bought my Garlic some years ago now and it was French Rose Garlic which does well in UK and like PP I have saved the the cloves for replanting ever since. They were quite pricey for Garlic from an Organic food shop but have proved to be a good investment.
I select my cloves on size and always select the large cloves for replanting and cook with the smaller ones. Some of my Garlic were nearly 3" diameter this year. I regret they were thrown in at the last moment without much thought just after Christmas. Apart from weeding they had no special treatment.
This year I am running my experiment. I wonder if it will make the slightest difference. Only time will tell.
Dan I find that when Garlic has sprouted it is best to remove that growth completely to prevent bitterness by cutting open and removing the whole sprout.
I'm afraid I take anything Bob Flowerdew says with a large pinch of salt.
JB.
User avatar
dan3008
KG Regular
Posts: 535
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:39 pm
Location: Sheffield, UK

thanks JB. Thats almost exactly what I did. Only mine ended up later in, about Feb... I wish I'd got it in a bit sooner. Hopefully I'll do better this year. I'll put it in with my autumn onions.

To be honest, I trust what you say a LOT more than I do Mr Flowerdew, you backup what you say with experience and credibility, he seems to be a "I'm the expert, believe me"

thanks for the tip on removing the sprout, I'll bare that in mind :)
Once the game is over the king and the pawn go back in the same box. Anonymous

Exploring is like walking, where the walking decides where we're going. Bob the dinosaur from dinopaws
User avatar
Pawty
KG Regular
Posts: 604
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 6:12 pm
Location: Hampshire

Hi,

Ok, so dispite me saying never again (through floods of tears) due to some sort of rot, my Autumn planting garlics and shallot sets have just turned up (suttons - I had a voucher).

I plan on putting them in part of the allotment which has never had onions or garlic before, but I understand the risk of rot impacting will always be there.

So, I'll go back through my old editions of KG to optimise my chances, but what is everyone's top 3 tips for good shallots and garlic (such as feed type, spacing, watering etc...).would you recommend growing them in some of that weed control mesh stuff with holes cut in them?

Thanks in advance.

Pawty
User avatar
Pa Snip
KG Regular
Posts: 3091
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 8:20 pm
Location: Near the big house on the hill Berkshire

Pawty wrote:Hi,

Ok, so dispite me saying never again (through floods of tears) due to some sort of rot, my Autumn planting garlics and shallot sets have just turned up (suttons - I had a voucher).

I plan on putting them in part of the allotment which has never had onions or garlic before, but I understand the risk of rot impacting will always be there.

So, I'll go back through my old editions of KG to optimise my chances, but what is everyone's top 3 tips for good shallots and garlic (such as feed type, spacing, watering etc...).would you recommend growing them in some of that weed control mesh stuff with holes cut in them?

Thanks in advance.

Pawty


Well this isn't an experts view, just my own personal way of dealing with onions shallots and garlic.

Good soil prep, as finer tilth as possible.
Firm the soil before planting garlic bulbs or onion sets.
Do not plant too deep, just deep enough for tips to be showing.
Do not push the bulbs into firm soil, use a dibber and re-firm the soil around each set or bulb
water lightly at planting, keep slightly moist until shoots first appear, then only water during extended dry periods.
If in raised beds water more frequently as raised beds are warmer and dry out quickly
Whatever spacing is suggested , often 10cm (4inches), in rows plant at 50% greater.
Rows 12inches apart

I am now finding we plant almost as many shallots as onions as we are finding them preferable in cooking.

Never tried growing through membrane,

Planted mine over last few days and covered each bed with fleece covering just to keep soil warm and stop birds pulling them up

The danger when people start to believe their own publicity is that they often fall off their own ego.

At least travelling under the guise of the Pa Snip Enterprise gives me an excuse for appearing to be on another planet
Monika
KG Regular
Posts: 4546
Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 8:13 pm
Location: Yorkshire Dales

Pawty, I agree with all of Pa Snip's recommendations, but I only cover the rows with wire netting to keep the birds off, rather than fleece which, I think, could prove a bit too warm at this time of the year when the bulbs really need the cold to form their roots.

The last few years I have not grown any onions (because they tend to grow too big for our purposes), only shallots, but this year I have planted a few red onions Electric, just to make a change.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic