Kitchen Garden Forum

I have just lifted my elephant garlic, it really is elephant too, but I found clustered around the bottom of each cove was a lot of little bulbs. Obviously they are garlic, I took them off and now have them in a storage jar but what do I do with them?
If I plant them out will they develop into plants like thier hosts and if so when would I need to plant them? They are very tiny compared to a normal clove. When could I expect to harvest them?

Regards.

Hopalong

Have a look at the thread posted earlier:
viewtopic.php?p=17200&highlight=#17200

As mentioned, I've tried saving then cooking these - they had a very tough coat that was difficult to get through (too much effort for what was inside). Keeping & sowing them may be an option.

Gladiolis do the same thing, ie. they get tiny pip sized bulbs around the main bulb, and if you plant them, in time you get new full sized bulbs. As I think the timing is pip to flower in about 3 years, perhaps you can knock off a year as you are not trying to get a flower.

In any case, worth planting up a few.

I think they're called bulbils and as Pakchoi has said, they grow into bulbs.

I lifted mine today and found the same thing.... should I try to plant them? If so - when?

My gut feeling would be to plant at the same time that you planted the garlic they grew from.
i.e autumn if it was an autumn one, or spring if it was a spring one. In any case, you would I suggest plant the bulbils in pots.