[Sneachta]

I was weeding in the garden over the weekend and inadvertently chopped one of my garlic stalks so curious to see how much bulb development there was i dug up the rest of it and was a little dismayed to see that there wasn't any bulb formation at all - it was more like a garlicky smelling spring onion in appearance.

Its my first year growing garlic and thought it should have been ready around now for harvest but not a bit of it.

Has anyone else harvested already, or is there nothing to worry about ?

Heres how it looks at the moment :-

[My Potatoes]

Was your garlic autumn or spring planted?

Garlic can normally be harvested from mid-July. However, the delayed spring means that you could arguably push that out by 4-6 weeks.

Your garlic is very green. You should wait 'til the leaves turn yellow before considering having a look-see.

Garlic and onion bulbs really swell once the days are getting shorter. This has only just triggered.

[forest flame]

i lifted mine the other day as they had all got scapes and were going brown.i planted them in november and was happy with the results.some were a bit small but overall a good crop.judging by your photo yours are a few weeks from being ready.

[Dirt Digger]

I planted some Casablanca Garlic on 2nd March. I've not grown garlic before so this is a 1st, but on Sunday evening myself and the good lady dirt digger decided we'd unearth some of our spuds to see what was happening sub-terrain, and we were/are delighted with our 1st crop of Sharpe's Express earlies. Although we'd split and moved our rhubarb last November and really shouldn't have touched it this year we also brought home a good helping of Victoria stalks which were delicious.
We also pulled some of the red onions which had bolted and we'll use these, but, curious as to how the garlic was doing we dug up one just to see how things were doing, and we were surprised to see a standard size garlic bulb, with a purplish tinge, and what was more was the glorious smell in the car driving home and also in the kitchen the last 3 days. So we'll leave the rest in bed another couple of weeks and lift at the end of July, with the onions...

[Sneachta]

Thanks, I planted them in January i think, can't really remember to be honest.
I'll leave well enough alone for another month or until the stalks turn a bit yellowish. Plenty of other things in the garden to be doing (and eating! )

[My Potatoes]

The garlic I planted in October has stems twice the thickness of those I planted in February. However, while I was weeding this morning I got the impression that there is little swelling going on at present. A far cry from how my onions are faring.

[pollen jim]

garlic are a hungry plant, likes it water in dry spells, also a feed once a month of phostrogen for really good results and plant in october please

[Sneachta]

Its funny, I mentioned it to my father over the weekend. He lives about 3km from me and planted his in late Autumn and just dug them up. Told me i should have planted them earlier and I'd be able to use the space for something else by now!!

Live and learn

[Dirt Digger]

Well Sneachta as said last Wednesday the garlic is still in place for a week or so yet, but, we did lift our shallots over the weekend. We'd not planted shallots before, and as this is our 1st year on a new allotment, we simply planted up a lot of stuff just to get going; of course the uncultivated soil together with the coldest spring in living memory, led to over half of those we planted being lost...but it was still good to be starting to empty out some beds, not to mention the novelty factor of the Ronde de Nice courgettes which are beginning to come on song, and are admittedly some of the best fleshed courgettes I've ever grown, so big smiles all 'round...

[medieval knievel]

started lifting some garlic yesterday, as the stalks had started to wither. generally smaller than last year's crop, but i assume that's just down to the cold spring.

one thing i had not seen before was that on three of the nine i lifted, there was a small 'knuckle' on the stalk an inch or two above the main bulb - maybe the size of a child's marble, or slightly bigger.

[My Potatoes]

[tippben]

I've been watering, and feeding with fish blood and bone, plus liquid seaweed. No stems have withered yet, so i'll keep going, and hope for really big bulbs this year. Some bulbs I missed overwintered. I lifted them in April and grouped them. I've been using the leaves in stir fries.

[Dirt Digger]

As of yester-evening we can now answer the thread tag title query in the affirmative: yes, we've dug up the garlic. the plan was to leave well enough alone a while longer, but, looking at the coming weeks with all that has to be scheduled regarding home, and work, and impending foreign trips, I am attempting to get ahead by doing some things now...
The garlic is fine and I'm fairly pleased with it. it's my 1st year growing garlic and I now have 30 bulbs, some of average size and about 50% on the smaller side, but sometimes it's not about size; back in late February when I was planting the cloves I'd have gladly settled for what I now have, so betwixt the begging and choosing, I'm choosing this as a little success...

[sgmgarden]

Garlic seems to be really popular to grow this year. I have seen quite a few members of this forum, and other ones, posting about it.

[medieval knievel]

that's cos it's one of the primary colours of cooking.