Just checked the old Farmer's Almanac on line and today is the day for onions, garlic, leeks, shallots & chives to go into the ground. I guess because they are below the ground and the moon is falling away from full - right?
I'm on my way out to the one bed I got prepared this week and plant onions sets, garlic pods, leek plants, shallots sets & chives plants. Guess we'll know the rest of the story around March or April come next Spring.
Any body out there in Central Texas plant onions, garlic stuff this month?
By The Moon
I planted my elephant garlic on the 13th of this month, I usually plant it in October but I am running behind this year.
Josephine.
I live near you. My chives live year round. I've had trouble getting shallots and garlic to grow. Onions do well, but I can't find sets. Where did you get your sets, if you don't mind my asking?
Kendalia
Kendalia ~ this week I saw our local hardware that handles seeds and plants has onion sets. I purchase mine from the feed store and have also seen them in the garden center at the walmart stores.
Kendalia,
I sent you a DM about the onion sets. The garlic cloves I planted were from a nice large firm pod I got at Walmart New Braunfels last week.
I remember seeing garlic growing along the roadside near here and plan to get some. I'll keep you in mind if I can find it again. Years ago before I took time out from gardening I dug some of this garlic to plant in my garden and it did quit well.
Wow, Walmart! Just last week I was at my local (San Antonio) Walmart and they had nothing at all, not even seeds!
When they get the herbs in, the onion sets are usually on that rack. They also keep them as late as tomato plant time. Who said the WM garden center has a clue! LOL
Ha! Strange how all of the big stores do nothing about providing Fall stuff at the time it needs to be planted. Maybe I'll try again. And Rock mentioned a place in New Braunfels that carries them.
Kendalia, Actually, the garlic pod I got at Walmart was in the food produce section near the onions. You may already have some on your kitchen counter. Separate the cloves and just stick them in the ground to where the top is about a 1/2" below the surface. Keep it moist, but not soaking wet.
Thanks. I just did exactly that last week (though this hasn't worked for me in the past--hoping it was because they needed a freeze). I'll look for onion sets in New Braunfels, as you suggested.
Kendalia ~ I have dug up a few of the multiplier onions I grow and will send them with the garlic.
Podster, you are too kind!
Well, I hope they will work for you in your area. For the most part, I find the alliums less demanding.
Kendalia, What is it about the garlic that is not working?
It started sprouting, but then died.
I tucked in some garlic over the weekend. I'll post if I have luck with it. I do have garlic chives that have just been growing and growing for two years. I harvest and it gets thicker and happier. My walking onions are happy as well.
Post if you don't have luck too!
Will do -- I did it then because my moon gardening calendar said the time was right.
Much of the garlic in the stores has been sprayed with growth inhibitor, so that is probably why it died. It's a gamble getting garlic there. You might try a feed store if you have one near you for garlic starts. I know the one close to Love Field in Dallas was supposed to have several varieties this year. Or try a grocery store that has a large organic section. Organic garlic would work. I actually got my garlic at Whole Foods in the organic section because I did not have time to go down that far south into Dallas. Next year I hope to order some hardneck varieties online, because they are supposed to have better flavor (grocery store is softneck).
We just put in a small veggie bed this fall, the first I have had in over 6 years. I planted garlic bulbs almost 2 weeks ago and most of them are already poking up out of the soil.
I planted onion seed almost three weeks ago and they have sprouted. I am hoping they get right amount of growth on them before a heavy freeze. From what I have read, you have to get the timing right and I was possibly a week or two late. Hopefully they make it through the winter.
From what I have read, up here in northern 8a, onion starts are planted in late January to early February. When I went to North Haven nursery a week or so ago they had some bunched onion starts for cheap. I could not resist and went ahead and bought some and planted them. I am going to mulch them real well and see what happens. :)
Sweezel, Thanks for the idea about the garlic. You may be right. Didn't know about the inhibiter.
I will probably try onion from seed. I got some 'evergreen bunching scallions' and an italian red heirloom onion I'm keen to try.
I'd be interested in hearing how your sprouts do after a good freeze.
Kendalia
It's another gamble with the seed but we are supposed to be in for a mild winter so I thought it was a good year to try. I planted Texas Grano and an Itatian Red Heirloom Flat Onion. I will let you know how they do.
Just checked one of the cloves of garlic I planted last Saturday afternoon and I am pleased to report that it already has a cluster of roots about a half inch long. Hopefully, it will sprout without any problems.
I knew when I planted that I may have been out of step with nature, but a mild Winter can be very forgiving.
You should be fine with the garlic planted now. The recommended planting in all of Texas for Garlic is fall. As long as that bunch of garlic avoided the growth inhibitor sprayer (or whatever they use), you will have a nice crop in the spring. :)
Interesting thread.
I hope to get some onion sets in next year (Jan-Feb), forgot to do it this year. Any recommendations for varieties?
Planted my garlic (~215 cloves/15 different vars) on the 13th this year due to time constraints, but usually get it in around Oct 31. We're big garlic fans, and I think it's about one of the most rewarding crops one can grow - well, if you like garlic, that is. :-)
This message was edited Nov 22, 2008 2:59 AM
Do any of you southern garlic growers leave a bed of it in ground year around?
I don't leave mine in the ground through the summer, usually harvest it in June, I am afraid that if I left the bulbs in the ground they would rot, but some of the stray ones do survive and come up the next fall.
However the bulb formation will be different and not as easy to harvest and divide.
Josephine.
I have a friend that used to have elephant garlic growing in her yard at her old house. Her yard was kind of native and natural (lots of wildflowers). She had elephant garlic growing in places all over the yard and would just leave it in there yearround and dig it up when she was out of regular garlic. She'd just break up come of the heads and bury them back in the dirt as she dug and they'd grow.
Ha, this has become the garlic thread. Interesting that there is no garlic thread under "Specific Kinds of Plants". Maybe someone successful with garlic should start one. . .
Well, since we are on the subject, here is my garlic story and how I handle it.
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/frostweed/4151/
Thanks, Frostweed, that is very helpful.
BTW: Frostweed, do you actually plant frostweed? (It grows wild here.)
For Texan's Eyes Only!
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/onions/oniongro.html
http://www.plantanswers.com/resources.htm#veggies
Thanks to Texas A & M
Jerry
Yes I do plant Forstweed, it is one of my favorite plants and it deserves to be in every garden.
Jerry, thank you for those links, they are very informative.
The reason I asked if anyone leaves it in ground was this. In this area, it is common to find a large bed of garlic around a home. It is left in the ground year around. No matter how wet, I have never known it to rot. They only harvest as needed and try to only harvest the bulbs which have had a bloom stalk.
I don't know the correct terminology but know this is the case. On a garlic bulb, there will be a small hard clove. Hard enough it would be difficult to eat. It is commonly sent out on an "umbilical cord" from the main garlic bulb sometimes reaching as far as 3 or 4 feet away from the parent plant. Sometime in the next few growing seasons, it will form a new plant. Many times when garlic is harvested, this hard clove will slide off and be left in ground. It will deliver a plant but maybe not right away. If one tries to remove a garlic bed, you will find plants volunteering in that spot for a few years to come. It is that clove that will lie dormant until the time is right to sprout.
I was curious if anyone had any experience with this. So I guess my answer to your thread question was nope, didn't plant it but it is coming up right on time.
Hello Podster, yes I do have experience with those hard cloves, they are called bulbils and will make a head of garlic on the second year. I always remove them as well as possible when I harvest and right now I have quite a few of them waiting to to be planted by someone.
Usually I give them away as starter, but I prefer to plant the large cloves because with them you get a full crop in one year.
After the harvest I plant something else in those beds for the summer, and plant garlic again in October.
So you are right, it is just a different way to manage the beds.
Josephine.
I plant garlic late Oct - early Nov, and harvest the majority of it in early to mid June. A few varieties/types may be ready starting in late May. Basically, I let the leaves tell me when it is ready to harvest. In general -- if you let *all* of the leaves/shoots die back and brown before harvesting, it can sometimes adversely affect storage, as the last few inner leaves control the bulb wrappers.
I learned a lot about how to grow garlic in Texas from Bob Anderson's site, Gourmet Garlic Gardens. Bob is based in Texas, and has a wealth of growing information on his site. http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/
I called Bob a couple of years ago with some questions, and he was friendly and helpful - very passionate and knowledegable about garlic. He is also a favorite source for my planting stock (if I'm looking for something new that I don't already have), along with Filaree Farm. Seed Savers Exchange is another one I like. One thing about ordering planting stock to keep in mind is that is pays to do it early. When it is time to plant, most sources are out of stock. I like to put my orders in starting in June/July.
What seems to do well for me here is just about any artichoke/softneck type. Creole types also do well here, and are generally considered "softneck" (but they can go hardneck for some, especially those in cooler climates). In selecting varieties to grow, flavor is very important to me, and of course, so is performance.
Asiatic/Turban types can do well here sometimes, or so I've heard. :-) I've tried a few and they did not always manage to make multiple cloves. A notable exception is Red Janice, a favorite - nice large cloves/bulbs. Flavor for the Asiatic/Turban types usually is very intense -- hot.
Hardneck/rocambole types tend not to do as well here *in general*, but one can always have a good year with them, I suppose.
Most of what they sell in the grocery is artichoke, usually California Early or California Late. Neither one of these are particularly known for their flavor. There are definitely much more flavorful artichoke types to grow for the home gardener.
Thanks, Suze!
Great information. Thanks Suze!