Linda, choose only the biggest cloves, sow in autumn into well composted and limed soil. Garlic prefers soil on the "sweet" side. The roots should be well established by winter, which helps the plant survive. Mulch well and deeply over winter, particularly if it feezes in winter where you are. Bulbing, and flower growth, are both prompted by the lengthening of the days in spring. Hatrvest when the tops die off, or start to do so.
Hope this helps.

I read somewhere they like to be kept in the fridge for a while before planting. Apparently the bulbs will get bigger that way.

Otherwise you could pickle your peeled garlic cloves. Just as you'd pickle your chillis. :)

I bought a bottle of garlic and chilli pickle from the local Indian grocer. It's fantasic. I could eat it by the spoonful, except that friends complain - a lot! But do I care?

Linda I grow garlic just the way Ray describes, no too brilliant this year but usually I get a good crop. It needs to be planted late summer/autumn to get a good thick skin then harvest when the stalks wilt.
You can get named varieties but I just use some of last years or from the supermarket.

Thanks guys, I assume then that it's OK for them to flower and I'll still get a crop. I use heaps of garlic in my cooking and my garlic oil is famous from the front door to the back and it would be nice to have it growing in the garden. The lime sounds like an essential I suspect the ground I put them last year was poor and I just got the kids to poke them in with their little fingers. So this time I'll give them a bit more nurturing. Will probably plant them this weekend before the full moon (so as to keep the werewolves away :-). It doesn't look like we'll get a summer this year so I might as well call it autumn.

Now when I get my hot-house I'll be growing chillies and will be sure to warm up the world with some garlic-chillie chutney. I made cherry and onion chutney the other day and strange as it sounds it is delish...

Thanks again.
Linda

Now my mouth is watering at all those yummy things! Any chance of recipes for garlic/chillie pickle or chutney???

Here's a recipe for green chilli pickles. Note that Gingelli Oil is Sesame Oil.

a href="http://www.bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib4166.html">Green Chilli Pickles

Woops ... Green Chilli Pickles

And Linda, what's your recipe for Garlic Oil?

Easy Peasy. I dry roast the bulbs in the oven ( 150C) for about 30 minutes to get rid of the bitterness, then peel them, trim off the root base and pop as many cloves as I feel like into sterilised bottles. About 4 to a 250 ml bottle, but for my own use I use 6. I get 250 ml bottles from a manufacturer with screw tops but for gifts, corks are nice. Then, using a funnel,pour in the best quality virgin olive oil, first pressing if you can get it, I look out for it in supermarkets in bulk tins, (Bertolli is often on special but check the date,if its more than a year into the can its starting to age, but I have also done deals with the local IGI shop to get it for me at a good discount, if I buy 4 tins at a time). Close tightly and leave in a dark cool place for about 3 to 6 months. I make it on the balsamic moon in June - ready to give for chrissie presents and use for summe salads. The first whiff when you open the bottle is magic.Take the garlic out and discard it when you start using it if you want to, but a small bottle gets used pretty quickly. I add chillie to some, as well. As you see I'm a 'rule of thumb' sort of cook.

For salad and cooking it beats all when you want a good garlic flavour. I use it when making the masala for a curry or Thai dish, in fact wherever garlic and oil might be called for.

Cheers
Linda

Linda,

I plant my garlic in April (May will do but you'll get a smaller harvest). I plant single cloves with rows 30-45 cm apart and 10-15 between plants. I usually incorporate a balanced organic fertiliser into the ground before planting. They'll sprout fast and grow to about 15-20 cm before stopping in mid winter. In about late august they'll start to grow fast, and I usually side dress with some more balanced fertiliser. I find the plants grow larger if you use large cloves for starters (always plant single cloves). The wider spacing also means less competition, which allows the plants to grow larger. Also keep the weeds at bay, or the plants are somewhat stunted. I always snip any flowering shoots off as soon as they appear over the foliage, as flowering saps strnegth from the plant which it would otherwise use to grow bulbs.
By mid November to mid December, the lower leaves start to dry and the plants start to get a yellow tinge. Don't water after about late october, as you want the bulbs to be as dry as possible or they won't keep as long. When the plants start yellowing, they'll be ready for harvest. You want to harvest at the right time for maximum storageability, which is when the bulb has swollen fully and the cloves have segmented, but before the outer skins disintegrate.
Dig up a plant or two when you think they're ready and if they are, dig up the lot. After you grow them a couple of times it gets easy to tell when to pick.
Fertilising well, giving them plenty of space, and starting with the largest possible cloves are the keys to bulbs the size of a large fist (and I'm talking real garlic not russian or elephant garlic).
Picking at the right time means your garlic will keep well into winter. Different varieties keep for differing lengths of time. Generally the more pungent varieties keep longer. Mine keeps, when picked at the right time, till about september, 2 months before the next crop comes out of the ground. Problem is, it rarely lasts that long in the larder!!!

Cheers,

Manuel.

Wow, thanks for the details Manuel. I think your climate is similar to ours being near the water, although we get more wind than your beautiful part of the state. I've printed out your directions for my diary and will follow them exactly. I'll have a nice bed ready for them by April. Much appreciated.

Linda

Hi Linda,

Were on top of a ridge and get very strong winds. I've never known the garlic to be affected.
The beans and cucurbits are pretty tattered this season though.

Cheers,

Manuel.

Unlike a lot of supermarket garlic, certified organic garlic varieties are free of growth inhibitor chemicals (found in much conventional shop-bought garlic), methyl bromide (treatment required for ALL garlic imported into Australia) and are free of all other potentially toxic chemicals that may be found in, or on, conventional garlic, paricularly that grown overseas. You will have great difficulty getting garlic to grow that has been treated with a growth inhibitor to stop it sprouting on the supermarket or greengrocers shelf. Try planting organic garlic seed cloves. There are many gourmet garlic varieties available from the right sources, including Elephant garlic. You will find information on these varieties at www.garlicfarmsales.com.au.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Garlic Farm

John,

Do you supply to Tasmania?

cheers
Linda

I've never had any real problems getting shop bought garlic to sprout, so why go to all the expense and bother. Just plant more if some don't take.

Especially since I can get them for nothing! I'll follow Manuel's planting regime for Tasmania and I'm sure nearer the time the nice veggie shed man will let me have the chuck outs, most of them are starting to sprout anyway. It's a bit early for the planting suggested by Manuel but I won't let these go to waste. I'll stick them in my daughter's garden.

Interesting site nevertheless.

Cheers
Linda

I've never had trouble growing from supermarket stuff. People really appreciate it when you give them home grown garlic. I just roast it, and then squeeze it out of the skins onto warm toast with tomato and pepper. Maybe a shave of cheese to go to heaven

Yes, Linda, we do supply Tasmania and Western Australia. However, those State Governments require a Plant Health Certicate for importation of garlic. This can be supplied by us for an extra charge. Details are available at Certification@garlicfarmsales.com.au

Here is a link that might be useful: Garlic Farm Sales

Thanks John - I'll probably stick with the 'freely given' source as gifts and exchange suits the concept under which I garden otherwise some poor little innocent garlic bulbs will be destined for the tip.

Linda

Hi Guys
Linda....the adivice from Manuel was excellent...except that i plant in March...a month (or a couple of weeks earlier
There are some excellent sources of garlic in Tas (which produces some of the best garlic in the world...DPIWE can give you a list of producers...or T.O.P. if you want organic) and there is no need to import garlic from interstate...we have literally hundreds of cultivars here...one Guy...Andrew Ricketts at Reedy Marsh has about40-50 cultivars himself.
You are right about the soil needing to be on the slightly alkaline side for best results
When using "free" sourceed bulbs ....just use the outside cloves for planting and use the smaller inner cloves for cooking....the Elephant Garlic mentioned above is actually a leek and while it is a much larger bulb...it does not have cloves it is also milder in taste.
Good soil will produce good results
Good luch and happy gardening
Peter

Yes, Linda, we do suggest you first buy innominate supermarket garlic (usually Chinese) and grow it. Although your past experience would suggest you have already been down that path and seen the results. Peter's advice to grow in slightly alkaline soil should bring some interesting results as will "Elephant garlic" without cloves! However, if you want to grow 'great garlic' you will need to progress beyond that stage at some time. Great garlic has to be seen and tasted to be believed! We genuinely wish you well, for you appear to have a great sense of humour - but you could benefit from some really epert advice.

We are looking for some Italian Pink and NZ purple garlic. Can exchange other good varieties for suitable bulbs. Have you these varieties for exchange or sale?

Hi all
I have just joined this forum and hope to get some advice from all you good gardeners.
I have been trying to grow a good size garlic for ages.
The very first time, maybe 10 years go, I just bought a $ 1 bag of chinese garlic, put it in between my roses and I had the harvest of my life.
Since than, I progressed to a garlic garden bed which i circulate every year, but the heads are getting smaller and smaller. I must mention that after the first year, I never again bought the chinese garlic,( due to being educated about organic gardening ) but ordered by Digger's, got some at farmers markets, etc.
Last year, we moved up to Olinda, Melbourne, where we have a rich, chocolate but acidic soil and again, my garlic was a huge dissapointment.
I did prepare the bed with blood and bone, cow manure and mulched the garlic.
Mind you, we had so much rain this year that our 125 thousand litres tank was already overflowing in July.
So maybe , the garlic just got too much water?
I did not fertilize at all.
I usually make my own fertilizer from blood and bone, cow manure and comfrey, which grows a lot on our property, add lots of water and keep it in a drum.Should I fertilize with this?
So now the garlic planting time is here again, do you think that I should add some lime to the soil and John, where can get the good varieties?
Many thanks for any answers

Poshka

Dear Poshka, welcome to Garden Web. It sounds like, from what you posted, that all the goodies you're putting into the garden are mainly acidic things. Garlic likes a "sweet" soil, so non acidic but alkaline. If you put a fair lot of lime or dolomite in your patch where the garlic is to grow, you will probably have much better success. It doesn't matter which variety you use, some are white, some are purple, some are soft neck and some are hard neck. I've found for the cooler climates that purple varieties seem to grow better, so California purple late, or Italian Purple are fine. But as you've already discovered, even a bag of the chinese white stuff will give you a crop.
What I do, is get the bed ready, no weeds all that , then a couple of bags of sheep manure, then a very generous handful of lime or dolomite per sq. metre. Then the cloves go in, about 5 inches apart, about an inch under the soil, and then I mulch to about 6 or 8 inches with whatever mulch I have, old grass clippings, straw, hay, lucerne, whatever you have lying around. Garlic HATES weed competition, so mulch works a treat.
I hope this helps. Good Luck, we want pictures.(grin).

HI
Just wondering if anyone could help me? I planted some certified organic garlic i bought online in a container with a mix of home made compost and potting mix and a bit of dynamic lifter on the 30th of May, so far only one has sprouted. its about 5 cm tall now will the others sprout or do you think they failed thanks