i have used chinese garlic for planting -usually as it starts to sprout,generallyfrom now on to harvestaround Xmas. they are generally small but good quality after hanging for 3 months.The leaves are great for soups and salads etc after 2 months growth.Last week i bought some aussie garlic abt 10 dollars a kilo excellent quality.too early of course to say how they will grow
chas

Aha, I'm glad to learn that it reproduces OK. Where were you able to find Australian garlic?

sugar_snap,

that chinese stuff isn't supposed to grow at all, under the quaranteen rules it is supposed to be neutered.

why not seek out an organic food shop and buy some local garlic from there you will get lots better results, and you only pay for the first crop there after it is all free.

we plant our garlic april to may up here so there is some warmth for them to get growing before winter, they then will handle the winter chills, especially if grown in a warm northeren aspect garden, they grow realy well in containers just too easy, we have pic's of ours on our 'instant potato patch' page.

when you find an organic or local supply loof for hard-necks and soft-neck varieties, the hard-necks usually have some marron colouring on them, the others are buff white. hard-necks also flower and then you get little corms forming and these can be planted and become table ready after a second season planting.

see on our 'building a garden' page we have a banner link to "cornucopis' he is down vic' way i'm sure he will be able to assist in some way.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

I bought the Aussie garlic at safeways and was surprised at the good quality.It was grown in Victoria and the first I'd seen for a long while as I always try to buy Aussie grown and as we all know this isn't always possible.
regards chas

Hi Guys
One reason you may have had a couple of poor seasons of garlic growing may be that you have had low levels of water to put on the garlic....for good bulb size they need to be fed very well and watered very often...they have very shallow roots and so they need this to be done often
With garlic (and most annual vegies) the size of the bulbs and the size and quantities of seed is a direct result of how big the plant gets
When the plant gets big before flowering it is able to transmit a greater quantity of nutrients to the seed (or bulb in the case of garlic etc because after pollination the plant draws its nutrients from out of its leaves and stems etc into the production of the seeds (or bulbs)...the next generation
So...water well and feed well (as well as planting at the right time) for maximum size and nutrition
Seek out your stae Organic organisation and I am sure you will find several garlic growers there....I know we have several here in Tassie (I had a poor year for garlic too...no water for the garden since november...so I had to source garlic bulbsthis year too
cheers
Peter

what do you think of using worm liquid and castings on garlic?.it seems to have worked well for me on leafy vegies but not sure on root vegies like garlic and onions
regards chas

Hi Len, Chas and Peter and thanks for all your collective experience.

Len, I think you could be right, as the stuff I grew increased in size a bit but produced few cloves. I'm off to Safeway, and I'll have to try to remember to SAVE at Christmas. Found myself buying broad bean seeds on the weekend because I had no stash, shock horror.

Helen

The liquid one gets from a worm farm is (in my opinion) one of the best fertilisers (fertigation = the act of irrigating at the same time as fertilising ) one can get when it is watered down well...the more one dilutes the liquid with water the better the results....this liquid is very rich in bacteria and other micro-organisms and when one dilutes it well then the micro-organisms are spread further and have less competition with each other for the organic matter that they digest. They can then multiply greater and as a result one gets a much larger number of micro-organisms (does that make sense to anyone or is it to vague or complicated)
cheers
Peter
Anyway garlic produces bigger bulbs if the leaves and stem are larger...when the plant begins to develope its bulbs it does so by extracting nutrients from the plant itself...so the bigger the plant the bigger the bulb

Hi all,
I've heard that the garlic you buy from the supermarket (and is often imported) has not only undergone some really nasty bleaching processes, but has been sprayed with an anti-sprouting formulation. Diggers club did an article on it a while ago and since them I wouldn't eat store bought non-organic garlic if you paid me!

yes imported garlic as it comes from asia where it is irrigated with polluted water, plus they kill the root so it won't grow local garlic is often sprayed app' 2 weeks before harvest with a systemic spray to stop sprouting on the shelf, that is if you can find local garlic anymore the imports have taken over.

garlic from an organic shop would be better.

our latest efforts are dismal again so will be sourcing better garlic for next years crop, we tried growing that stuff from california or wherever.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

I work at a supermarket and the imported Chinese garlic does eventually sprout. The only issue I could see that it *may* spread some exotic allium virus to the soil meaning kiss goodbye growing the onion family for the next decade in that plot of soil. That said, I've planted some garlic I noticed sprouting from the health food shop (both regular and Russian "elephant" garlic) and it's looking very, very healthy indeed.

The main reason why Australian garlic isn't commonly available is twofold; price and quality. The Chinese grow a very attractive garlic bulb, which the Australians can't replicate. Unfortunately, while the Australian garlic may taste just as good (if not better), most people only purchase fruit and vegies based on appearance (for example the local Gatton onions are not selling now because they are yellow instead of brown, despite tasting better!). Add to this the fact that harvesting garlic is labour intensive, then China wins hands-down in both stakes.

it may sprout but it is unlikley to grow or develop, and maybe it looks better because it is irrigated with sewage contaminated water, and then heavily bleached to make it whiter and to help to kill some of the pathogens.

len

It does actually develop into a happy, healthy plant (done it before) and develops a nice little bulb. The bleaching is probably the "secret" to making Chinese garlic white, Australian garlic tends to be more of a yellow colour but still tastes the same. Also when you grow it yourself you know exactly what is going into it (garlic fortunately tends to repel almost everything so no pesticides required)

I bought a couple of bulbs of Aussie Garlic from our little fruit shop about four weeks ago it was $30 kg, they said that's all they have got and wont be getting it anymore. I wanted it for planting but being the wrong time of the year here I don't think it will last to the cooler months of next year.

It is still nice and hard and hasn't sprouted yet but when it does I may just pot it up and keep it under the house that's about the coolest spot on our block.. If it grows good and if it doesn't well I have only lost a couple of $$

mistymorn, my garlic I planted about 3-4 weeks ago is doing very well. I know it's technically the wrong time of year to plant it, but all my other flowering plants seem very, very confused with the warm Winters we've been having and flower whenever they damn well wish! They are about 12" high now and looking very healthy, the elephant garlic has taken much longer but is now about 5/8" above the soil (planted 2" deep). The tomatoes in the same bed aren't getting any pests on them at all, wondering if the garlic is keeping them at bay.

I know what you mean about our climate it is confusing.
I wonder if I should plant them in the bed with all the lettuce.
I have a few going at present, they are doing so well I dread the caterpillars coming.
Hubby made me a screen but it will only fit over two rows, so which seven gets it..?

I have been planting 7-8 seeds every few weeks for a continuous supply.
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Nice little raised bed you have there! I also notice the powdery mildew affected pumpkin vine at the back of the shot - one part full cream milk to nine parts water works just as well as any chemical fungicide to stop it (and with this weather we've been having (drizzle) it's perfect breeding ground for fungi). Basil alone isn't stopping the bugs here, but the garlic sure does - you could always try interplanting a few cloves around the lettuce and seeing how you go (doubt that will build up substantial amounts of allium related disease)

Hi and Thanks all my beds are raised here you cant grow anything in the bare soil its terrible.. The Basil and chives have been left in that bed after the tomatoes finished as hubby takes all the soil out of the beds after they have been pulled out and replace it with heaps from down the chook yard mixing it with home made compost..

Milk and water does not work for me, not on the roses, the cucumbers, pumpkins or zucchini as the dew is so heavy it just washes off. Last year I was spraying that every week and still getting it, this year I am not spraying..

No chemicals allowed in my garden too many of the residents would not like it.

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Here is a Green Litoria fallax Eastern Dwarf tree frog.

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Then there is my mate Spikey actually there are a few Spikey's around.

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This little cutie was in the roses yesterday when I went to dead head them, sheltering from the mid-day sun there is always another day for doing those things.

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Chubby little frog so he is not going hungry in my garden..

Nice little residents you have there - used to be plenty of frogs around here but the drier weather combined with everyone else's fondness of flooding the townhouse complex with insecticides has ensured they are a rare sight now. It's ironic, as the more frogs around the fewer insect problems you have in the first place! And insects don't develop "frog resistance" like with pesticides!