Kitchen Garden Forum

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

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.

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

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

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.

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