So, only 1 of the small bulbules I got from Josephine and planted last fall has sprouted. Should I be concerned or just let them be and not worry about them? Some animal, probably a squirrel, had dug a couple of them up in one area where I'd planted them, and they were still whole, not rotten, so I know there still in there. What should I do??
Yet Another Garlic Question
you planted them last fall and have nothing?? then they are probaby goners.. nows close to the time to harvest garlic cause its a cool weather crop like onions... if you leave it in the ground during the summer heat it gets bitter...
Hmmm...I'm thinking we don't harvest garlic until summer up here. Not sure since this is my first time growing it though.
you have to remember the 2 growing seasons here.. if you put it in in the fall then its about time to come out ... some do plant it in early in the year, like feb, and let it go till the hot waether hits then they harvest and replant it in the fall our summers are so hot it seems to go bitter to me but Im no expert on growing garlic.. Im not much of an expect on anything ..lol..
I got the garlic from Josephine in the fall and I've been using her "method" found in her DG blog, http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/frostweed/4151/ . I also have used the info from a Texas garlic farmer, http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/growing.htm .
is it elephant garlic or regular garlic???
It's from Josephine, so I'm guessing it's elephant.
I leave the perennial bed of garlic in ground year around. I've not noticed a bitter taste in it but in my experience, not all the garlic will sprout in the same year. I've found when I thought I had completely dug up a bed to relocate the garlic, some sprouted every Oct for 3 years after. Apparently some of the garlic lays dormant and sprouts another season. I wonder if that is why yours haven't sprouted. If that is the case, I hope you planted where it will be a perennial bed.
Well, DH wants to plant something in it! I'm fine with leaving it alone, but we could use that space.
Maybe you could dig them up and plant in a large pot?
Stephanie, the garlic that I gave you was the bulbils not the cloves of elephant garlic, and those take a long time to sprout because they have a very hard shell, they also will sprout at random times.
Go ahead and use the space and this fall i will give you some cloves so you will get a more dependable crop.
Josephine.
I was told that you harvest the e. garlic after it "bends over". Sometimes I don't get it harvested, and it stays in the ground year-round. It has always come back in the fall. I was also told to re-plant cloves at the same time. If that's not right, please let me know, 'cause that's what I do with it.
I planted some cloves of garlic two falls ago that someone gave me. Not one came up so I planted basil in it's place for last summer. This winter, guess what came up - that garlic. Can't believe it tool so long, but I now have about 5 plants in the pot that I usually grow basil in. Nature has a mind of it's own.
Thank you, Josephine. I'll try planting some stuff with the garlic, and if the garlic sprouts, then it sprouts. Just knowing that they sprout at different times is reassuring to know. Like I said, I saw some a couple of weeks ago and they were still intact, so I know they're still down there. We'll just keep watering them and wait....LOL
Annette, what you are doing is fine, but what happens is that when you leave it in the ground the bulb splits and you get a lot of smaller plants all in a cluster, I just like to start fresh every year, so the bulbs and cloves will be big.
If you leave the little bulblets in the ground, the ones with the hard shell, those will come up all over, but if that works for you that is fine too.
There are different ways to do things, and as long as they work for you, that is good.