Do you peel garlic when planting?

I planted my garlics on 10/01, and here they are today. It took them about 10 days to emerge, although I still have some that haven't come up yet.

Linda ~ how come you put the garlic in the fridge? JC... Kristi

I was also wondering why the cold treatment for the garlic. I always leave mine at room temp-If they start to sprout-that's OK-

I read on a garlic starting tutorial that the fridge makes them produce larger cloves.

Interesting ~ I was curious.

Look at this link: http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/growing.htm#anchorplanting

Lotsa info and looks to be much to do for planting prep

If you wanted to plant garlic in containers how deep should they be? I may try planting garlic from the grocery in cinder-block holes but want to use containers for the garlic I've ordered.

Thanks for the link, TX

That's the first reference I've seen that says peeling is advised (for home gardeners, at least).

That article says 6" for growing garlic. Plant 2" into the soil.

Thanks! What about all the "prep" of the bulbs: soaking in baking soda & liquid seaweed and then in alcohol? Overabundance of caution? Hard to believe very many gardeners use all that...

I came across this video yesterday regarding peeling or not peeling your garlic. Unfortunately, he doesn't take you out to the garden to actually PLANT the garlic, but it's informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu1sv05jDvM

All I did was seperate the cloves, stick 'em in the ground, cover with soil and grass clippings (loosely), let them overwinter, started watering in the Spring, and wait. They did beautifully. Huge bulbs at harvest. Didn't pre-treat or peel anything.

My neighbor grows garlic as a commercial crop, and got me started as well. We just finished planting 400 pounds in field rows that grew potatoes, cabbages, carrots, beets and other crops last year. No special preparations, just separate the cloves from the bulb shortly before planting, and put them in the ground 2-3 inches deep at 6 inch intervals with the root end down. They are almost all hardneck varieties, and will be ready to harvest in July.

I just came back from a long long time overseas.
I did plant my garlic early this year because I didn't have a choice.
I did plant cloves at the end of September. Now I am back and each clove is already sprouting with at least 2 leaves 12" tall.
(I will take some picture later ... after I unpacked my suitcases ... ah ah)

Last year I spent a fortune ordering garlic from the internet and I just had a few bulbs ...
This year I went back to my original plan.
I bought a bag of garlic at Cotsco. Maybe $4.
The garlic came from California.
So far so good : all the cloves did sprout !

By the way ... broccoli, kale, bok choi, radishes, lettuce are enough to feed 100 people ... weee

Welcome back drthor! We've been missing you!

Glad your garden is flourishing! Post pics soon!

Linda

Here are the pictures of my garlic already growing.

drthor, that's a beautiful sight. I don't have mine planted yet, sigh...

Planted 80 cloves today to go with the 40 I planted 2 weeks ago. Most of the first batch have sprouted. Was a little later than I wanted for the second batch. We'll see what comes up in Spring.

My Chinese Pink, a softneck, thinks it's spring and is up 2-3 inches. It's in for a rude surprise! I probably should have referigerated it instead of planting it when I got it (Territorial Seed). I'll know for next year that it might do this. None of the hard necks are up, and none of the elephant garlic.

Mary, they should do just fine- mine always get frozen back 2 or 3 times every winter- they just regrow and produce like crazy!

Hi Jo, thanks. I hope mine do likewise. You're in my neighborhood, sort of. Same hot and dry, then cold and dry desert kinda weather. What garlic varieties do you grow?

My garlic is always from the grocery store- and not necessarily organic. I have always had good results with them. I plant about 150 each year .

I've had store-bought garlic (Whole Foods, so, I hope it's at least not sprayed with growth inhibitors) in the fridge for almost a month now. Still trying to get my raised bed built and in place. But, glad I hadn't planted out yet, since our temps are still roller-coastering in the 80s during the daytime, and around 65° at night.

My poor beet and turnip seedlings don't know what to do.

I covered them with a clear plastic tarp this morning, cause we're due for severe thunderstorms and maybe some hail by noon and later tonight. But, it's bright and sun shiny right now.

I Just hope I vented the tarp enough, so they don't fry before the rain!

My garlic is doing great!

Here some pictures of "garlic" I couldn't resist to take last month.
The first two are from a farmers market in Civitavecchia (Rome - Italy).
One braid of garlic sold for Euro 7.50
The third picture was taken outside a restaurant in Venice (Italy) ... huge garlic and tomatoes too.

I think I would like Italy! ;) Great pictures, drthor.

very pretty! wish I could learn to braid garlic like that. never seems to look like that when I do it! LOL!

Beautiful garlic braids! They've had centuries to perfect the art. How much is 7.50 euro in US money?

Euro 7.5 = $9.5

Good buy! I've seen them for $25, as they are more of a novelty here. I'm growing some softneck garlic and hope to sell some garlic braids in a few years. I have never made one. The ones you showed have a few more bunches than what I have seen.

I noticed my garlic came up last week, both the peeled and unpeeled samples. I'm piling leaves over the shoots for mulch.

Steph,
Your garlic is beautiful! I'd grow it just cause it's pretty to look at!

I still have my garlic in the fridge, and the temps are just now starting to drop (again). This roller coaster ride is killing me...

Turnips finally started taking off, and the beets are trying, but, with this intemperate weather, I don't know what'll happen.

Sure hope I haven't waited too late to plant the garlic. This'll be my first time.

Gymgirl, I've plant garlic as late a Christmas. It was slow taking off, but it did fine. I'm in 8a, so I bet yours will be fine too. Never know 'till you try! ☺

When I was in z6b, I also planted garlic as late as mid-December, and had a good crop.

And the young seed stems or scapes, are super to eat or use in salads, baked potatoes, stir frys. They sell out as fast as I harvest them at teh market

Don't peel them. Speaking from personal experience; the first time I planted garlic, I peeled them and planted them. Instead of getting garlic bulbs, they broke down into mush. In fact, they disappeared altogether! The next time I planted them, I left the peels on and got a really nice crop of garlic! I always plant my garlic the week of Columbus Day. Didn't get around to it last October. I'll try a spring planting this year!

I never thought about it before reading this, I always separated the cloves and planted them, thought I missed something for a minute or two...
My red garlic looks good despite the zero weather ,, Will plant more shortly.. Grounds hard frozen

kathy4836
Thanks so much for your explanation. Funny !

Kathy, maybe when you peeled the cloves, you cut off the flat end where the roots start to form.

My neighbor (commercial grower whom I helped with planting last fall) has his website up now. www.marvelousroots.com He will be adding to it as he has time and more products and pictures.