Just harvested the rest of my elephant garlic. Replanted lot of little bulblets . All of them had at lest 2 on them. It’s the most amazing crop of garlic I’ve ever grown. 5 bulbs weighed in at 1.2kg. I’ve reduced that to 800g as it includes the stalks. Thank you veggie for the cloves.
Now hanging in the wood store to dry. [
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They look great, SC. Don't forget to keep some bigger cloves for planting as well as the little tiddlers.
You have to thank Scarlet for these, not me, as she sent me my starter cloves several years ago. Thank you Scarlet.
For some reason my elephant garlic is rubbish this year? I think the dry weather earlier in the year did for it?
Mine didn't like the heat or summat. I too have got some little bulbils. Do I replant them now or dry them (ish) or wait til autumn? The main bulb is smallish so they've got to be replanted oo, somewhere where I'll remember I've put them.
All these questions about "When do I.........plant, dehead, harvest etc" have made me realise that Elephant Garlic is a No Rules Veg. I've planted it whenever I think about it, dug it up whenever I wanted some, left it in the ground to do its own thing, never taken the flower heads off unless they were dead etc. I still have some cloves leftover from the ones that I sent you in the seed swap, I'll be bunging those in the ground too.
What I'm trying to say is - don't worry about it, follow your instincts. When you have a bit of ground and, a few minutes free time, plant a few EG cloves. I replant in the same two areas every year and I leave some cloves in the ground undug, not deliberately, but because I don't need them. They all grow back.
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I dug these up last week. All sizes !! Monobulbs and some which will split into separate cloves. Lots of baby bulbs, some of which have been left in the soil
I'll dig up some more when the flowers are finished and do a size comparison - as I think they will be larger.
(19-07-2025, 09:45 AM)Veggie Wrote: [ -> ]All these questions about "When do I.........plant, dehead, harvest etc" have made me realise that Elephant Garlic is a No Rules Veg. I've planted it whenever I think about it, dug it up whenever I wanted some, left it in the ground to do its own thing, never taken the flower heads off unless they were dead etc. I still have some cloves leftover from the ones that I sent you in the seed swap, I'll be bunging those in the ground too.
What I'm trying to say is - don't worry about it, follow your instincts. When you have a bit of ground and, a few minutes free time, plant a few EG cloves. I replant in the same two areas every year and I leave some cloves in the ground undug, not deliberately, but because I don't need them. They all grow back.
Much the same for normal garlic, it can be planted at any time and you'll still get a crop!
(19-07-2025, 10:35 AM)Veggie Wrote: [ -> ]I dug these up last week. All sizes !! Monobulbs and some which will split into separate cloves. Lots of baby bulbs, some of which have been left in the soil
I'll dig up some more when the flowers are finished and do a size comparison - as I think they will be larger.
Well that’s very comforting. All the little ones I replanted look exactly like yours. Luckily I only got one mono bulb but it’s still slightly larger than a normal garlic bulb. Mono bulbs is all I’ve ever managed to grow with normal garlic. So I’m incredibly happy with my elephant garlic. Think I might have to give the normal stuff another go, when I’ve got a few more veg beds in place.
I don't grow ordinary garlic, unless some FREE cloves come my way. The garlic taste is too much for me - Elephant garlic is milder but plenty strong enough for my weak little taste buds.