Garlic

My first bulbs were bought from a local Polish shop on the advice of another allotment holder. The bulbs were very large and so each clove would make a good 'seed'.

 

The cloves tended to sprout in early October  and so in 2017 and I decided to plant directly into the ground in the greenhouse after the tomato plants had finished.

 

 

The growth was fantastic, but as you can see in the photo the 2018 tomato plants were of a size to be planted out and so for following years I have planted the garlic in containers so as not to impact on the tomato plants.

 

The photo shows the garlic 'scape' bent over. Advice indicates to lift the plant 21 days after the scape has bent over.

 

The scapes can be chopped and used in cooking.

The plants are laid out to dry in the greenhouse and are ready once the stem is dried out and paper like.

The crop in 2018 was the best to date. Really good quality bulbs which have been used for cooking and growing. I freeze about half of the cloves as they tend to sprout after a few months. I leave the skin on the clove and it chops very well straight from the freezer. Whilst fresh is best it still retains its flavour.