Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
inulover

I have cloves!!!

I have neglected my garden this winter as home renovation consumed every available moment, but (pregnant pause) the little plants have been working anyway.

I just got around to weeding the garlic bed. Many of the plants had turned brown and failed, so I pulled the dead ones. I was rewarded beyond merit. Not just a single clove like last year, but whole heads. Not just one or two, but every plant I pulled had headed up. The heads are a little anemic, but they are multiclove heads. Maybe next year, if I tend them a little more in the winter, I'll get colossal heads.

Larry

Comments (12)

  • amberroses
    10 years ago

    Hurray! They look great. I have some garlic planted too, but mine are still growing so I can't celebrate yet.

  • laura1
    10 years ago

    way to go!

  • m5allen
    10 years ago

    Nice, what variety of garlic is that?

  • loufloralcityz9
    10 years ago

    Nice going Larry

  • whgille
    10 years ago

    Larry, those are some nice heads of garlic, congratulations! I will have to check mine soon.

    Silvia

  • tomncath
    10 years ago

    Cool Larry, you have me wanting to try that now....

    Amber, what variety are you growing and when?

    Anyone know if it is possible to grow these in containers like I do the onions?

    Tom

  • amberroses
    10 years ago

    Tom, I am growing Rose de Lautrec and Publix grocery store garlic. I planted them in the fall, around November I think. I did it in a unorganized way in tiny pots, in great big pots, with roses, in the sandy soil, in the raised beds, in the earthbox, and wherever I could find a spot. My results are better in the better spots as you would expect.

  • afishlady
    10 years ago

    Wow-that's exciting! I hope mine do as well. I want to try fresh garlic.

  • Truscifi
    10 years ago

    Congrats! I haven't had any luck with garlic, but I may be inspired to try again now.

  • whgille
    10 years ago

    I got cloves too! thank you Larry, they were in a bed with parsley and the herbs took over, you were right about saying that this year the garlic look different. I am sure with more care and with a place of their own would do better.

    Silvia

  • katkin_gw
    10 years ago

    I am happy for you all. I was told garlic wouldn't grow here, so you proved them wrong. :o)

  • inulover (9A Inverness, Florida)
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It took a bit of research and the help of John at 'Forever Yong Farm' to come up with a system. Without a lot of explanations, it all boils down to chill hours. Seed garlic needs time below a mean temperature of 50(F) or better, a mean temperature of 40(F) or below. Vernalization takes 6 to 8 weeks to trigger the clove forming switch.

    There is a gotcha. Water stress or high planting temperatures can reset the switch. Experiments by some of the Ag colleges suggest that a cold soak of 12 weeks or more will stop the reset.

    In North Florida zones 8, warm weather garlics should bulb without chilling, but you can hedge against an unusually hot fall/winter with 8 weeks of refrigeration.

    Zone 9A might get away with 8 weeks of chill time, but 12 is a good hedge.

    Zone 9B and South needs the full 12 weeks. To get 12 weeks of chill and still get the garlic in the ground for a spring crop, you need to make friends with the garlic farms and get your garlic as soon as it is ready for shipping.

    I don't have all the answers or whys that garlic sometimes will head without special treatment. I have done 4 experimental plantings over 3 years and the 12 week chill is the only one that produced cloves. Silvia's garlic was also chilled 12 weeks before I sent it to her.

    I will be ordering early from John so that I get the first bulbs shipped this fall. For the curious I planted, it was his Creole sampler.

    Larry

Sponsored
Hope Restoration & General Contracting
Average rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars35 Reviews
Columbus Design-Build, Kitchen & Bath Remodeling, Historic Renovations