Hey guys, I'm looking for some advice on buying garlic to plant this october. We have some great farm market stalls near us that are selling locally grown fresh garlic. I was thinking of buying them and using these cloves for planting. I'm thinking that they are fresh and local so should grow well. The other garlic i have seen for sale locally at garden center look old and i had poor results last time i used them. also the price seed merchants are charging is very high for the amount i want to plant. so need advice from you garlic growers. also wondering how long before first fall frost date do you plant your garlic? thanks for all the help guys
Farmers' market garlic is definitely a good type to plant! If possible, get the farmer to identify the garlic for you (Musik, Polish Silverskin, California softneck?) so you will know what to look for next year if you want to buy more to plant. Garlic from a seed merchant is costly because you are going to buy it only once. Save the largest heads you grow and plant cloves from those next season. We plant garlic here in Texas in early to mid October, and our "first frost" date is usually the end of November. Frost isn't really an issue. Plant your garlic in the fall, mulch it heavily, and in the spring pull back the mulch when the first little green shoots appear. Don't worry if the green appears shortly after planting. The garlic will shut down growth until conditions are favorable and you'll get more green. Onions drying in barn ( photo / image / picture from marlingardener's Garden ) The bulbs on the right with less green on them are some of our garlic bulbs--California softneck and a Spanish Roja. We harvest in June when the tops start to yellow and flop over, and hang them to dry. Depending on the humidity, four to six weeks gives you nicely cured garlic heads.
thanks for the advice we get first frost oct 7 so wanted to give them some time to put roots down. i'll be sure to ask what kind of garlic it is , i think its a hardneck variety. was planning on putting a thick layer of mulched leaves over them before the snows come.
I used to grow in the northeast, on a cold enough plot that hardneck garlic was the only option. I have since moved to SE-OH where it is possible to grow softnecks. But, I'm still in the same old hardneck rut. Its a rut, but I likes 'em. Ok thats out of the way. I like buying (when I do need to) at my local farmers market. You can get good localism advice there too--re: hardneck softneck choices. If I have any caution for you it is; if size is important to you, buy big. Bigger garlic beget bigger garlic. If having the most toys when you die, means you win, buy mail-order. if not buy local. You'll have fewer choices, but there aught to be enough choice to get a solid start. Buying garlic by-the-each suits my wallet better.
i concur with all the ideas posted above. local is always better. be sure to plant enough so you have plenty to harvest to eat and to plant for next year. good luck! {beautiful pics mg!}
I've been told many times not to do this, but every year I go buy a few heads of organic garlic and plant the largest cloves. I have no idea what kind of garlic I'm planting. I've never had a problem.
pp, you're not the only one who does that!!! every year i try so hard to keep the varieties separate, and, so far, every year they get mixed up!
I dunno if an earlier plant out gets bigger garlic. It will get bigger greens. I like 8 weeks before average first frost for a plant out date.
I plant cloves of garlic and it comes up every year. Different varieties. Sometimes I buy garlic plants at stores but they just keep coming up each year so I don't buy plants like I used to.
Well the plan went totally wrong, but with good results. I bought some garlic from a local farm shop, unfortunately they had picked them early and the bulb was one big clove. So I couldn't use them. I then went onto vessey seeds site, and found they had good priced garlic compared to my usual seed vendor west coast seeds. A bit more looking at vesseys, and i found that not only were the garlic cheaper, but 90% of the seeds were cheaper, with a lower price and more seeds per pack. And i must admit i think the varieties they stock probably match my location better as well. So although the initial step was bad, the delivery of seeds and garlic from vessey todays was a big win. just wanted to share this with other new gardeners, always look around for the best vendor for your seeds.
Dan, Last year someone gave me 4 elephant garlic bulbs, which were 1 big bulb/clove. So I saved them and put them into the ground to see what they would do and I got 4 really nice regular bulbs, much to my surprise. elephant garlic ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden ) It probably would do ok, but the cost gets to be ridiculous to buy only one bulb per set.
WOW Thats a big garlic bulb. ok good to know they were yearlings. but at one plant each that would have got expensive as carolyn mentioned.
