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Post by copse on Mar 13, 2014 17:29:05 GMT -5
Somehow I got the idea garlic was a good companion plant for my fruit trees, so planted the odd clove at the base of a few of them. Now I have "flowering" garlic, and I'm not quite sure what to do with them. One search result (soilent_green on this page) of someone who saves them, suggests after the covering opens, cutting the whole thing off and hanging them until they dry and eventually the bulbils will be ready and easy removed for future use. But then there's the unlikely potential actual flowers, where I understand I should pick out the bulbils and leave what is left in the hope I get some, and let them hopefully flower after which I eventually harvest any unlikely seeds. Am I missing anything? Is there anything else I should know? Can anyone recommend a good reference for understanding what exactly I am looking at, with regards to all the bits and pieces? I've taken photos of the flower heads in case it helps. Cheers.      |
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Post by richardw on Mar 13, 2014 18:09:37 GMT -5
Thats really late in the season for your hard neck to be at the stage that it is,i wonder if its because being under trees it slowed the garlic's development.
Its too late now to remove the bulbils if you wanted to try and get those flowers to grow seed ,you could certainly replant them for winter once the stem starts to show signs of yellowing.
Where you thinking of having a go at trying to get some to grow seed?
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Post by copse on Mar 13, 2014 18:55:23 GMT -5
Thats really late in the season for your hard neck to be at the stage that it is,i wonder if its because being under trees it slowed the garlic's development. Its too late now to remove the bulbils if you wanted to try and get those flowers to grow seed ,you could certainly replant them for winter once the stem starts to show signs of yellowing. Where you thinking of having a go at trying to get some to grow seed? Yes, definitely trying to get some grow seed. They would have all been planted out on the shortest day, or thereabouts, last winter. The first picture in my original post is of one leftover garlic plant in a bed beside the house, and not under a tree, so not sure it is just the trees. The rest of the bed was harvested some time ago when all the stems first started yellowing. The first one I just let grow because it was one of the few that had a developing scape. Here's a picture of the house-side plant in profile - it is at least twice as tall, if not more, than the tree companion plants. I'm not sure I'd bother with the bulbils except to eat them, as it sounds like too much work. This is one of those fiddly varieties with the small cloves and lots of associated work removing the skins.  |
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Post by steev on Mar 13, 2014 20:10:31 GMT -5
I plant Narcissus under my trees, thinking they may help ward off gophers, but your mention of planting garlic there got me thinking; gophers will eat garlic, so I think I'll inter-plant garlic with daffodils.
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Post by copse on Mar 13, 2014 20:25:12 GMT -5
I plant Narcissus under my trees, thinking they may help ward off gophers, but your mention of planting garlic there got me thinking; gophers will eat garlic, so I think I'll inter-plant garlic with daffodils. Sounds well thought out. I should go out and see if the trees with garlic look different to those without, maybe whatever was gnawing on some left the others alone. Thankfully we don't have gophers though :-) |
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