You are having rain rather than snow? Lucky you.

Onions seem to start and transplant rather well, actually. The fact that it is hardly ever done with garlic probably reflects the fact that it is scarcely ever necessary, I should think. After all, how many times has your fall-planting window been rained out? It seems rather odd that the nursery does that. I could see it being a useful technique in extreme northern zones where garlic will rarely over-winter, but why bother in the milder zones?

>extreme northern zones where garlic will rarely over-winter,Say huh? I have never heard of garlic not wintering over in the north.

The center of diversity for many garlics is Siberia, which would make it really strange if they didn't winter over.

I had good success with garlic planted in fall and havested the following years summer. I also do this with a multiplier onion for many years now. Even when the record cold temps last year killed most of my 25+ years old rose bushes, garlic still survived. The cold was so bad I also lost part of a grafted peach, plum, apricot tree due to extreme cold.

Transplanting and peat pots are a world apart in my estimation. During the years when I used peat pots, I didn't consider it as transplanting but simply planting the pots. In transplanting per se as we know it, you are disturbing the roots. When using a peat pot, one is merely giving the plant a larger area to continue growing in. With the method used, a tobacco setter, you are doing exactly that, setting them rather than transplanting them.

Martin

Do they fall-plant garlic in Siberia? I know nothing about agriculture there in general. But I don't think it's unheard of to lose the garlic crop on occassion to extreme and prolonged cold in severe climates. I guess in such climates it's smart to hold back some planting stock for spring.

Again, most places, most of the time, why wouldn't growers fall-plant in the usual way? What's the advantage to the all the additional labor of peat potting?

I don't have all the details re: peat pots vs. direct sowing. All I know is that it was offered as a way of saving varieties that I wasn't able to plant in the fall.

One advantage, to the nursery, however, is that in addition to their own plantings they sell garlic plants. I can't think of another way they'd be able to do that which was both effective and economical.

I often find garlic that comes up in the previous years patch and usually transplant it rather than till it under. I try to get a ball of dirt with the roots intact. Seldom if ever do they fail to do well. I do try to get them all done prior to spring. So far I have found about 30 and all are doing well. Two more today that I delibertly dropped last october to see what they would do.
Why not try transplanting a few to see what they will do in your area? Works for me.

Well, I think that weather any allium survives the winter has more to do with the drainage than the low temps. They don't like sitting in frozen wet soil like we had in southern WI (clay) but do fine in our sandy soil here in the north even though our temps can stay below zero for weeks at a time and even go as low as -40. Having a good consistant snow cover helps them too I think.
Catrina

Brook,
Be sure and let us know if you lose any of your favorites. Perhaps those of us us who have a start of them can repay your earlier kindness.
Ken

We live in an area that gets quite cold, some times into the minus 30's. We have sandy soil that we amend, and we have grown several kinds of garlic for years. What we do is work the bed real good, adding compost and other organic material, then plant in August. They have time to put out their roots in the fall, and winter over very well. We harvest in August and start all over again.

So far, we have always had good luck, taking blue ribbons at the fair every year. Sometimes even winning the Award of Merit in the vegetable section.

What I am trying to get across, is that garlic is not hurt by cold weather and short growing seasons.

I think it's also best for those in the north to plant them a little deeper. This way there will not be fall growth or early spring growth, durring those warm spells, which is then killed back when it gets cold again. Better if they wait to grow until the severe weather is over.
Catrina

Hi all! I'm new to this forum & started a thread on kitchen garlic that has prematurely started growing into a Triffid - lol!!!

That said, once Mother Nature - AHEM - decides to stop screwing around with us here in Virginia, & I plant these errant supermarket rejects, when would I be looking at possibly harvesting them, or at least just seeing if I got anything?

This coming fall? Next spring? Winter nights here are frequently in the 20's for several weeks, but other than that, fairly mild, if that helps. As can be expected, our summers are HOT & HUMID.

>Perhaps those of us us who have a start of them can repay your earlier kindness. Coho, thanks for the incredibly kind thought.

Most of the varieties I grow are easily replaceable. But there are two I'm concerned about: Gravel Switch garlic, and Poppa Gary's Potato Onion. Both are Kentucky heirlooms.

I have a friend in Colorado who is growing both of them, and, hopefully, she'll be successful even if I'm not. One way or another we'll save these two rare varieties.

As per the rest, well, let's wait and see what this year brings. I'm thinking of rebuilding the allium beds completely, raising them up a foot or so and adding more sand. This will help with the wet conditions.

I'm convinced, though, that it wasn't so much the wet as the lack of sun, the past two years, that has caused the problems. Wetness, alone, would have caused rot---which I didn't suffer. But my heads were on the small side, due, I believe, to lack of sunlight during the critical bulbing period.

Breezyb the sooner you plant the better. Harvest late summer when most of the leaves have turned yellow. Don't wait after that because it will start to sprout again.

Just wanted to update everyone.

The Gravel Switch planted in peat pots didn't work. All 15 of them rotted. Those that I sent to Colorado seem to be doing OK, however. So there's a good chance we rescued it.

I never got to set the Poppa Gary's PO in the pots. But I did plant them in early March. Had 11 bulbs that made it to that point; 8 that were pretty solid and 3 that were marginal. All of the 8 and one of the marginals sprouted, and are out there doing fine. So we're OK on that one, too.

I planted the Rakkyo in January, figuring I had nothing to lose. All but two of them, in a double row planting, sprouted, and they are doing really good. Whether they'll bulb or not in July is an open question; but I'm confident that I've saved them.

So, now I'm getting ready to order seed stock for next fall. That is, unless members here have some they're willing to share. What I'm going to do is restart small, with just two varieties, and then build from there.

What I'm looking for are Shvelisi (Chesnook Red) and Xian. If anyone thinks they'll have some extra this year, please let me know. If not, I'll place an order, now, for fall delivery.

Thanks.

Hi Garden Lad, I will have plenty of Chesnook Red, and will be glad to send you some after harvest around the middle of june. I am growing 33 differant garlic varieties this year and almost all are doing great with the cooler than normal spring here.
Gary

Thanks, Gary. Let's plan on getting together on this later in the year.

I noted in SSE that the Killarney Red garlic is said to do better in wet conditions than most. That said, I have never had any trouble with garlic rotting. Onions are a different matter! The onion maggot will get them here if I just let patch stand, there will just be fewer and fewer plants each year. I have to pull all the bulbs in summer and wait patiently till fall to plant the tops, I lose very few to maggots that way. It's one of those "use it or lose it" kind of crops.
I am also very careful, since I have two heirloom onions, never to throw any bits of grocery onion in the compost. All bits of onion go to mulch the nearest fruit tree, and I won't buy sets. Too many nasty onion diseases.
Someone mentioned deep planting for garlic in the north. We used to mulch them really heavy in the drought in the 80's, and when we had that -25 blast I think they were killed down to the mulch. That's not a big deal, they went on to do well. But I'd think northerners would be wise to mulch their garlic. Besides, It really cuts down on weeding in the spring when you are so busy planting everything else. I just love a georgeous patch of great big weed free garlic this time of year. Half my patch looks like that, the rest is buried in volunteer kale that I didn't have the heart to pull out. I grow a former CV, "Long-Standing Kale" that acts like a weed in our garden, it comes up after a rain just about anywhere you have hoed. (I won't let any bits of grocery cabbage into the garden either, and will only buy cabbage transplants that I see have been grown in soiless compost.) It wont' be too long before the kale is finished making seed and I can cut the plants, and even before then the kale will begin letting in more light. Donna