Kitchen Garden Forum

planted it over a mnotrh ago i think, purple white (massive cloves).

still nothing showing, i presume it should be???

opinions anyone? should i dig 1 up to check?

thanks

Stu

Not necessarily. I planted mine on 15 October and saw the first signs of it above ground on 5 November - but since then it has done very little. I presume like everything else it is temperature dependent so the recent cold weather will mean it's not doing much. It should have made roots for you though.

Don't look at anything underground while the ground is cold or frosted. It just takes cold air down to the roots. If it isn't all right, you can't do much about it at the moment. If it hasn't appeared by February plant some more. Garlic needs a cold spell. I've forgotten the word for plants needing a cold spell, but someone more knowledgeable will tell you.Mine hasn't appeared but I didn't really expect it to yet. This is the dormant season and everything is very dormant while it's so cold. If we get a milder patch in the winter it will start making progress. Otherwise it will wait till spring and might have rotted by then, which is why you look in Feb. and resow if necessary.

OK, will leave alone.

thanks

Stu

The name for a needed cold spell is ,I think,vernalisation.I planted my garlic late and there's no sign yet,given the weather we've had it's probably a good thing!

Iwent out to look at my garlic today, after the postings on here. I planted a month ago. I can just see a few shoots if I look hard.

Don't worry, Stu. This happened to me last year and the year before. I think I had just planted it too deep; the garlic appeared eventually and grew as expected. It only needs to be planted about 2 inches deep.

mike

Is it too late to plant now or should I wait until Feb/Mar?

Hi Cherry
According to the Garden Organic (HDRA) website, it is OK to plant garlic now, through until February.
I only planted mine just over a week ago.
Cheers, Lyn

One of the main things with garlic is not when you plant so much as how. It needs to be well drained. I usually add some sand because I garden on heavy clay. In these conditions the clay holds the water a lot of the winter and the garlic would rot without something to lighten the soil.It is better sown before spring because it needs a cold spell to move it into growth.

I grow about 300 garlic every year in my Polly tunnel - I plant around now - the shortest day - and crop after the longest day. I grow inside because they like it on the dry side. I grow Thermidrome, and treat as onions - gross feeders[/img]

I agree that it is how garlic is planted, rather than when, although overwintering garlic sold through the mail order catalogues in the autumn does need a period of cold weather, otherwise it bolts in the spring.

On my heavy clay soil I usually plant in October in a raised bed, with grit and organic matter incorporated to improve drainage. The plants shoot up, then seem to stand without doing very much in the coldest months, so I am not sure if planting now would be a good idea.

If I had to do it I would make sure that the soil is well drained, put some plastic down to warm it, plant,protect the bulbs with cloches or similiar, then cross my fingers and hope.

You can always buy sping planting garlic if all else fails.

Good Luck