Planting elephant garlic

Discussion in 'Fruit and Vegetable Gardening' started by wynn, May 2, 2009.

  1. wynn

    wynn Active Member 10 Years

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    Bowen Island
    Is it true that only garlic planted in the Fall will produce garlic bulbs for eating. I assumed planted in the spring might delay production of garlic until the following year when it will experience a period of cold, but some reading seems to indicate there is no point in planting garlic at all, unless planted in the Fall. Why would nurseries sell it in the Spring if this were consistently factual??? Not being an expert on garlic, I defer to the knowledge and experience of others more familiar with growing garlic here.

    Wynn
     
  2. MannieBoo

    MannieBoo Active Member

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    Location:
    Stewiacke Nova Scotia, Zone 5A
    From mine and my mothers experience of growing garlic (75 years combined) you can grow garlic in spring, elephant garlic is certainly one of them, has well as softneck and Italian, there are others as well. Most of the garlic you see in stores are spring planted, they would never last the winter under ground like hard neck garlic varieties which are planted in October. You should have no problem planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall, but the trick to having good size bulbs is to remove the seed pod as soon as it grows on top, this allows all the nutrients to go straight to the production of the bulb.
     
  3. wynn

    wynn Active Member 10 Years

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    Thank YOU Mannie, that makes sense. I wasn't cognizant of the different types of garlic. Question answered!

    Wynn
     

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