On thing few people realize is that "seed" garlic is truly cream of the crop stuff, grown at wide spacing under exacting conditions in order to get those really big bulbs and cloves. It's a grade above regular garlic.

That said, I plant only the large outer cloves and get fine bulbs of a half dozen varieties, three big ones (S Roja, Music, and Silverskin) and two small hardnecks and a turban. The small varieties store longer than the big ones, hence the diversity.

My spacing is on a 6" X 6" grid pattern, 5 cloves wide (2' wide rows). What spacing do you use for your seed garlic?
Thanks, hortster

Hortster Loooks like I only live a few miles away from you and i have gave up on growing Spanish Roja here. It never sized up for me and i grew it for four years. I would be happy to give you some starts of the kinds that do well for me that should grow fine for you. I live in Blackwell and i will be harvesting around first half of June normaly, I'm growing 36 varieties this year and will give you several bulbs of the varieties that do well for me here in zone 6b if your interested.
Gary

I space the large varieties 6 inches apart in double rows, with the rows 10 inches apart. The smaller varieties get tighter spacing, sometimes in triple rows. In my climate it can get rainy, with heavy disease pressure, so I never plant more than three adjoining rows.

Gary is making such a valuable offer with his acclimated garlic. Deserves a batch of homemade cookies, I'd say.

Gary, I have written down your email address and will for sure contact you this fall. Your offer is kind. I would be happy to reimburse you for what you can spare. I need to get some different varieties going and appreciate your experience with workable varieties for this area. I guess it could just be a difference in climate that holds S. Roja back around here.

My limited space can ultimately only produce 600 - 800 bulbs if I plant 50% of the area and leave the other 50% for access to weed and work the garlic. Planatus, I will give S. Roja one more shot using your double row spacing to see if it does any better. Thanx for the input.

hortster

I have always had trouble getting Rocamboles to size up. I'm sure most of the problem was insufficient sunshine in my NJ garden (5 hrs/day), although Porcelains did size up much better under the same conditions.

This past year I moved my garden to my new farm in VA which has full sun. I yielded nice large bulbs, most equal to the seed bulb size, including a Rocambole - German Red. I spaced my garlic at 6" intervals in rows that are 12" apart to maximize sun exposure.

I think the key to large bulbs is lots of sun, nitrogen and water up to one month before scaping, then stop the nitrogen. Remove the scapes at 18" long while still in curl, and reduce water for the last month. If you focus on growing large & healthy tops for the first three months, the tops will nourish the bulbs for the next two months.

TomNJ/VA

This is my 3rd time growing garlic. The first time I had no idea what I planted. The bulbs came out a pretty good size. The next year (last season), I planted like 6 different kinds of garlic, some softneck and a few hardneck. One did really poor, was a hardneck and it sprouted by died back and never came back. The others were smallish bulbs. Reason was because I crowded them and the soil wasn't fertile enough. So the tips I received was to always use the biggest cloves when planting and at minimum space them at 4 inches in all directions.

I have always used just compost to add fertility to the soil, and occasionally I would use liquid fish fertilizer. I found out that both onions and garlic needs lots of nitrogen for big bulbs. The more leaf growth the bigger bulbs you get. So I will be putting down some bloodmeal pretty soon for them.

I am not a big time garlic grower either. My experience goes back for no more than 6 or 7 years. I have done pretty fairly in the past.

Spacing, 6" , I think is right. At that spacing the adjacent garlics will not compete for food or water. I think keeping the soil moist and fertilizing with Nitrogen are the key. Garlic is a LEAFY crop. The bulb is continuation of the leaves. So more than anything else it needs Nitrogen. If your onion and/or garlic has thick, sturdy top then it is likely that it will also have a bigger bulb.

Time and time again, soil tests have indicated that most established gardens have abundant( if not excessive) amount of P and K. So all your plants needs steady low application of Nitrogen and that is especially true about garlic and onions.
JMO

Also want to point out, some garlics do better than others. I've tried several kinds and some do really poor while some do good. I tried Chesnok red and Spanish Roja and both did poor here. So if you are getting poor results it may be that it doesn't grow well in your area. Try experimenting with other kinds of garlic.

hi to all here io m from cameroon in central africa and seeking people interest by white garlic or pendja garlic and moringa ;if interest contact pe kamdemkamer@]yahoo.fr

In my experience, some years one variety will do well while another does not. The first 14 years or so I grew two varieties and could always count on one doing really well. Now I grow 7 varieties, again I can always count on some to do really well and others not.

There are so many variables here and one certainly cannot judge a variety by the way it grows for one or two years.

You moved an obviously well adapted local strain half way across the country to an entirely different growing area and a different handling pattern. Garlic may and often does take 2 to 4 years to re-adapt. You like the variety and get usable bulbs; so don't give up just yet.

If you can get back to the size you purchased in New York in your garden in Kansas in just three years, or even four you will have done very well. It looks to me like this coming year should be your break out year for these garlics.

This is one crop that really likes a mulch, both for weed control, since it doesn't compete very well, and for a uniform soil moisture to keep up a steady growth. I used wheat straw on my garlics last summer and that worked out pretty well for me, and only watered when the soil under the mulch dried out. I have a sandy soil and that helps. Heavier soils are a bit trickier.

Taking the advice of many here I pretty well nailed the garlic with urea already this spring, about twice what I have used before. We shall see.

Yeah, Dutch, I learned quickly that heavy clay doesn't get it. My (originally heavy clay) raised garden area has had a 3" layer of compost added every other year for about 15 years or so and the soil now crumbles through my fingers and has changed from reddish to dark brown. It is very well drained. I'm still going to take Gary up on his offer for a few bulbs of some different varieties this fall and see what a difference that will make. I imagine I will always keep a little Spanish Roja around, though.

Thanks again everyone.

hortster