I always plant my garlic in the fall and have never had this happen before. They are up!!! What do I do? I have straw ready to mulch but it hasn't stopped raining for (feels like) weeks. I didn't get it all planted yet so what isn't planted will hopefully only put down roots and not up shoots. Will it hurt them to already be up and winter hasn't even set in yet??? I look out at my garden and could almost imagine it spring for how they are growing.
Any time I plant Garlic in autumn they do send up young tender green leaves, they are like seed leaves if you plant seeds, the small shoots usually sit there till early spring before they start to grow again and depending on the type of garlic, the bulbs are ready to harvest July- August, IF your winters get really cold or ground frost then place some straw up the rows pf bulbs for some protection, my way is to cover the bed with horticultural fleece that allows the plants to breath, rain water gets through the fleece and in my situation the fleece saves a lot of my plants getting burnt from the harsh salt strong winds, so if any of those problems are found in your area it's best to make provision for them now rather than when it's too late.
Hope this helps you out a bit, gives you some ideas and hope helps toward a good harvest. Good luck. WeeNel.
I set my cloves around the end of October and they usually sprout, and then stop. Mine are usually ready to harvest around the end of June beginning of July.
garlic usually does grow as soon as it has some light and right temperatures. i overwintered garlic in the ground with the same kinds of leaves yours has. is it should snow quite a lot then you might want to put a cover on. the cold usually doesnt do much to them, although you might have some heaving issues (the roots might be pulled by freeze-thaw cycles of the ground). i hope this helps. our climates may be different for garlic, i only grew them one year in new york (7a)
I read somewhere that if hardneck garlic sends up shoots in the fall when you plant that it's ok. The green shoots will die off, but the root growth will remain, which is the important part and why we plant in the fall. Hardneck garlic is very cold tolerant. I've had my garlic planted for about a month now, and have had a few make little points sticking up out of the ground, but no shoots yet. I'm in Northern Indiana, but if I were you I wouldn't worry too much about the shoots if it's hardneck garlic. I'm not too sure about soft neck. My softnecks that I accidentally left in the ground in some of my raised beds put on shoots so I transferred them to pots to maybe winter over. I guess we'll see if they live.
I wouldn't worry about the topgrowth of fall planted garlic at all, hard neck or soft neck. Garlic pretty much takes care of itself. Although we have much milder winters than those of you in Indiana and points north I have friends in super cold Canada that grow thousands of garlic plants yearly, fall planted, and they do just fine.
Shoe
This is my First Year planting Garlic I actually got Excited, watching the Green Stem's emerging from the Ground, I understood they turn to woody stems, you break them off and wait for them to regrow in the spring, much like asparagus.
I have a Question, I planted some Organic Utah Celery last Year, and it did Amazing, it's now November in New Jersey, we haven't quite reached Freezing Temp's here, yet we had one Snowfall, which is when I picked the last of my Beefsteak Tomato's and I am a Heavy Mulcher, This Celery is Amazing, it's growing like Crazy, and I'm wondering if it will winter over...???
on this website they say celery is hardy from 5 and warmer, and i know jersey is not colder than that, im from nyc. so im thinking youre at 6-7? hope the link helps.
http://www.weekendgardener.net/vegetables/celery.htm
I plant garlic in the fall, usually late september and make sure the soil is fertile, and add organic fertilizers. I plant the toes about 5 inches apart and about 4-5 inches deep. Once it has turned off cold, then I mulch the row with straw. In the spring when the garlic is showing new growth, then i pull the straw back but not completely off the row.
As long as the soil stays moist, I do not water it again. If it starts to dry out, then i will water enough to keep the soil moist but not soggy. It starts drying the ends off in August and I will harvest once I have dug around and found the bulbs and the toes are separated.
We're the same zone as you. We put in garlic in the fall every year. It does come up. We have had no problems through the winter with the hard neck garlic. We did have some problems with the soft neck garlic we used to plant. Somewhere we came across a resourse that said that soft neck garlic is not hardy enough for some of the colder winters here.
Harvest for the garlic bulb is generally in July. We also use the scap and some of the green leaves prior to harvest.
Thank You Coastalzonepush, it's amazing everytime I come here I Smile, I Hope all of Your Thanksgiving's were as Incredible as mine, and I'm sure they were...
Just like everyone said, I wouldn't worry. It is my third year with garlic and they sprout in the fall, grow in the winter even though it snows at least twice and frosts happen almost every night. I came out my first year to see the cheery garlic tops still pushing onward. The only problem i have is with the tops themselves. The leaves grow out and fall over, some of the breaking off. I experimented by cutting a quarter of the leaves off a couple, and within weeks they grow out again. Should i continue to prune them or let them be. The plants are from store-bought cloves i didn't use.
Bloomfly it is my first year growing Garlic, but I use the green tops like chives, I made Pad Thai the other night and snipped the green top's off the garlic to garnish, they were excellent.
That sounds amazing! I think i might try it.
