Every year I take a few cloves from the garlic I have in the fridge and plant them in the little bit of earth next to my patio rose.
I normally do this in September, then leave them alone till June when they are normally showing signs of being ready to dig up.
I have never bought pre-prepared garlic from the Garden Centre because they want to sell you too much.
I think that last September I planted six cloves rather than my normal three or four and this is my harvest.
I suppose it depends on the sort of garlic you plant and I have never taken notes (perhaps I should) but some years I get cloves that are single but fat and other years I have had heads with several small cloves.
Have you planted garlic? Do you have any tips? Are there things I should do to get a better yield?
Any opinions/advice very welcome.
What a great idea, I must give it a go.
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Well the way I do it, it’s very easy and takes up very little space.
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I have no advice whatsoever because it would never have occurred to me to do this, I’m quite intrigued. I once chucked a very old sweet potato into the garden because I’d forgotten about it in the veggie drawer and it had grown shoots. A while later (a few months maybe, less than a year) I wanted to plant something in that particular spot so ripped out the potato blooms – to discover an accidental harvest of six beautiful big sweet potatoes. I gave them to Cynthia, who used them in a stew and said they were delicious.
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I like sweet potatoes but my garden is so small I am not sure I have a space I could use but it sounds a great idea. Must think about it.
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Love it and had no idea you would get single fat cloves from planting 👍
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Yes I was surprised the first time it happened. I think I must observe the sort of garlic I am planting. I never get big fat bulbs like you buy in a shop though.
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The RHS or Sarah Raven – try their websites for quality gardening advice.
Impressed! I would like to do this too.
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I just wondered if anyone else had tried this with garlic from the fridge. I expect proper garden prepared ones are different.
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They may well cover it too. Worth looking.
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I’ve done it! This query was answered on a Gardeners Questions Time (BBC Radio 4) panel. Something along the lines (if I’m remembering correctly) about the garlic that’s chosen and sold for planting having been cultivated to produce cloves, whereas when you split a head to plant a clove, it will occasionally revert and produce a head that’s all one clove. Same principle as squash seeds reverting back to courgettes. It’s happened to us when we have used our own crop of garlic to resow. Good luck!
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Thank you for that. Obviously as I am doing this just for fun any harvest is very welcome but it is good to understand why I get these big cloves sometimes.
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Pleasure. Since we got our plots at #HamlinLaneAllotments (see Instagram!) In 2010 I’ve started listening to GQT, like the middle-aged woman I am 😂
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They need the cold to split the cloves and the right variety planted in the autumn will oblige. Nothing wrong with what you have there though. I mince mine up and freeze it so it’s all ready to cook so the size of the cloves doesn’t matter.
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