Off topic- garlic growing

Well first batch of garlic is coming through very quickly. Happy as first time for doing veggies etc and the strawberry plants looking great too

[springcross]

We've almost finished eating last year's planting, they've lasted us ten months.

[Lolabridge]

Well done Dee. It should be good weather for gardening this week but please don’t overdo it!

[bubblyalex]

Same here but different veg 😁👍🏻

[dawkin_S]

Looking good - always loved growing garlic, as it's so delicious and easy too (hopefully!). I used to plant it around my blackcurrants and other soft fruits.

[Mrsb07]

Can I ask where you get the garlic seeds from I have been looking for them but can never find any

[Gio1997 in reply to Mrsb07]

You go to your local grocery store and get a few bulbs of garlic. Now break these into smaller cloves. Plant the cloves.

[Hidden in reply to Gio1997]

Agree it was so easy did not realize

[Mrsb07 in reply to Gio1997]

Ah that simple you learn something new every day thank you so much for this information I didn't know lol

[Mrsb07 in reply to Gio1997]

I have planted potatoes carrots cabbage beetroot peas and cauliflower and butternut squash also some leeks too there all coming on well

[Pippy25 in reply to Mrsb07]

Sounds really good to me and hope you get a good crop of things.

[Pippy25]

Brilliant Dee, your efforts are paying off and it will give you the opportunity to be even more creative than you already are with lots of potential new dishes to try.

[Hidden in reply to Pippy25]

Ah bless you x

[Pippy25 in reply to Hidden]

And bless you too Dee, you've been inspirational with some of your ideas x

[nomoreheels]

Looking good, & they'll be all the sweeter for growing your own, the garlic I mean. My h used to grow both spring & wild garlic in Spain & saw some wild garlic plants (in the green) for sale online so went for it & they've been really successful. As they're a woodland plant he planted them underneath the cooking apple tree, perfect conditions as they loved it. They're nearly at an end now, the flowers have been & gone, but have been great & he says he will definitely buy them again next year. Our stawbs are coming on too but need to put them on high once they're ripe for picking otherwise the dogs will be at em. I hope you enjoy the fruits of your labour too!🧄🍓

[medway-lady in reply to nomoreheels]

No wild garlic is horrid, really invasive it killed my snowdrops so beware and it pongs! Its nigh on impossible to clear we dig the bulbs up every year and still have some.

[nomoreheels in reply to medway-lady]

We've never had a problem before, didn’t move from where they were planted, how odd. Remains to be seen if they do here in the UK but we know exactly how many were planted & they're all in a circle so will be able to track them if they wander. I'm not a huge garlic fan, certainly not second hand, but these only release a smell if you happen to brush a leaf with your foot but as they're at the side of the tree nearest the wall that's not often. They're nowhere near our snowdrops so that's not a concern & the only other bulbs they're near are bluebells & we have so many I’m gifting a good few to our next door neighbour once they've died back. It's a shame you had such problems though.

[medway-lady in reply to nomoreheels]

They spread like weeds and we have a nice garden. Pretty blu'ish flowers much loved by chefs but vile. We planted in a bed under an apple tree, and from there they spread. We have very good rich loam so it might be they just like the soil.

[nomoreheels in reply to medway-lady]

Ah, we have sandy soil being so near the sea, doesn't hold water well at all, maybe that has an affect? Our flowers were white, planted straight into the ground, that possibly too? I do keep a tidy garden, though a lot of planting is only just in it's second year, aside from the apple trees & some shrubbery, cotoneasters, hydrangeas, laurels & such.

[medway-lady in reply to nomoreheels]

I'd dig the bulbs up and pot up before they go mad. Ours has finished flowering and this is the 3rd or 4th years we've dug it up we need the flowers to dig the bulbs. Definitely pale blue with white inners. We have good soil we built our house on a very, very old orchard. So probably centuries of leaf mould. The bottom of the garden is a bit wild and we've damson and hawthorn trees and a couple of elderberry bushes. Its said within 1 metre of an elderberry shrub is fresh water and that bit of the garden is damp but never found the spring. But close by is a couple of farm Artesian Wells for the courgettes and lettuce and coriander so could be one there. Down the road my friend had a huge hole appear in the garden it could have been an old well too.

[Mmrr in reply to nomoreheels]

I love wild garlic.

I always feel spring has well and truly sprung and summer is on the way when wild garlic is out.

[nomoreheels in reply to Mmrr]

Yes, & it's such a delicate flower it's a delight to see.

[dozzer15 in reply to nomoreheels]

We found some growing by the riverside and went back with a carrier bag and a small garden fork and dug some up. We planted it in a large tub and it comes back every year. We started off with just a couple and now the tibia full x

[nomoreheels in reply to dozzer15]

Great! Seems containing them was the correct thing. I wonder if it depends on whether they're dead headed or not, as I always do.

[Hidden in reply to nomoreheels]

Love wild garlic

[dozzer15 in reply to nomoreheels]

Well I'm ashamed to say I never have, i just leave them to it

[nomoreheels in reply to dozzer15]

I'm a serial deadheader I’m afraid! Nothing is safe. 😈

[dozzer15 in reply to nomoreheels]

I do with the flowers it's just the garlic I leave alone haha

[nomoreheels in reply to dozzer15]

As they're contained it shouldn’t matter if you're happy for them to multiply. I suppose it's only if you're noticing them elsewhere in your garden the wind will have taken the seed pods, which also give a lovely delicate hit of wild garlic if you chomp down on them.

[dozzer15 in reply to nomoreheels]

That's true

[Brychni]

I need to grow garlic - my husband is Italian - we often reach a sort of panic when there's only one bulb left!!

[Hidden in reply to Brychni]

Well all I can say is so far very easy a planter threw them in and gave a lot of positive vibes!

[JJJA]

I do grow veg but never managed a good crop of garlic so good for you would love so see updates 😀 gardening is my way of coping with pain as it takes my focus away from pain and gets me outside xx