A couple of weeks ago, we bought a tube of garlic bulbs, but didn't use them in time before they started sprouting. Could I plant these guys in a container and get some viable plants?
Ahh that makes sense. Still, I have wonderful mental images of the next person who lives in your house standing in the garden scratching her head and thinking, "Gee I wonder what that little green shoot is? Maybe I should take a picture and post it on the gardening community to see if anybody knows what it might be." Yeah, I know, my imagination will probably be the end of me, lol!
Nah, they'd just get a shock from looking at the backyard. We're renting the house, and the backyard has been terribly neglected-- tall wild grass, weeds, and rocks everywhere. It looks like a wilderness, but it would just take too much time, energy, and money to do anything about it and then walk away in the end. :\
If you want some garlic next year plant it this fall. :) I've got some growing in my garden this year that I planted last year, I'm looking forward to it.
You can, so I have been told, stick them in the fridge/freezer for a period of time to counterfeit the cold - but I've never tried this myself. I am very much of the gardening school of "shove it in the ground and try to forget about it until it's ready" which is closely allied to the gardening school of "if I think it's a weed, it's a weed" (this could explain the 2' x 8' area of wild garlic that appears to have overtaken an area that used to be full of lillies).
Oh yes. The stuff is great in soups/stews/stirfry - I just pick and handful, cop it up and throw it in when I'm cooking. Tastes like garlic, but milder. I have a veg box delivered each week and was a bit taken aback recently to find a bunch of wild garlic as part of it! :)
You can plan t them now and use them for garlic greens, Use them like green onions.
Don't plant them in soil in your garden, or dump the soil from your pots anywhere you ever want to grow garlic. There are garlic pathogens that survive in the soil for up to 3 decades.
If you are going to grow garlic heads, it's worth it to buy certified disease free garlic heads. You get to choose some incredible varieties that you would never find in the store, and you can save your planting stock from year to year. Once you taste them, you will never go back to store bought.
I've heard about the garlic pathogens before and have some questions if you could help...
1) Are they mostly on the comercial garlic that you would buy at the grocery store? 2) If the diseases get into the ground will they hurt anything that grows there or just garlic? 3) You said you can re-use stuff you've planted... I bought some garlic bulbs at the gareneing center last fall, so when I harvest them later this summer I would be ok to use some of that crop over again?
1> Most of the commercial garlic won't be infected, but the risk isn't worth the cost. Even some small local farms have become infected, but they can still sell their garlic for consumption, but it won't store that well, and should not be used for seed.
2> Only closely related plants. Some pathogens infect a wider range than others.
3> Yes. In fact that is the safest thing to do, even better than buying new certified seed stock. Any pathogen that is in your garlic is already in your soil, so you aren't introducing anything new by replanting.
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you really need to plant garlic in the fall so they're exposed to some cold weather, that's when they develop their taste.
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Yeah, I know, my imagination will probably be the end of me, lol!
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If you want some garlic next year plant it this fall. :) I've got some growing in my garden this year that I planted last year, I'm looking forward to it.
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(Too bad on the lilies? Can you harvest the wild garlic and use it?)
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Don't plant them in soil in your garden, or dump the soil from your pots anywhere you ever want to grow garlic. There are garlic pathogens that survive in the soil for up to 3 decades.
If you are going to grow garlic heads, it's worth it to buy certified disease free garlic heads. You get to choose some incredible varieties that you would never find in the store, and you can save your planting stock from year to year. Once you taste them, you will never go back to store bought.
Reply
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1) Are they mostly on the comercial garlic that you would buy at the grocery store?
2) If the diseases get into the ground will they hurt anything that grows there or just garlic?
3) You said you can re-use stuff you've planted... I bought some garlic bulbs at the gareneing center last fall, so when I harvest them later this summer I would be ok to use some of that crop over again?
Thanks!
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2> Only closely related plants. Some pathogens infect a wider range than others.
3> Yes. In fact that is the safest thing to do, even better than buying new certified seed stock. Any pathogen that is in your garlic is already in your soil, so you aren't introducing anything new by replanting.
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