Planting Garlic from Sprouted Cloves

[GotGarlic]

We just got back from our beach vacation yesterday and one head of garlic plus a clove are sprouting, so I'm going to plant them in the garden. Here in Zone 7, we can plant garlic and onions any time the ground can be worked and they will be ready about eight months later; you can tell when they're ready when the leaves wilt and turn brown - see photo 2 below. Plant them about four inches deep with the sprout facing up, about eight inches apart.

If you live further north in a cooler climate, check with your local extension office to find out when is the best time to plant them outside. If they sprout during the winter, I see no reason why you couldn't put them in a pot and then plant them outside in the spring.

I use garlic from the grocery store that has sprouted in the kitchen. I've heard that garlic and other root veggies are treated with something to prevent sprouting, but my experience is that grocery-store garlic does sprout, so into the garden they go!

To harvest, just pull them out of the ground. Brush off the dirt, but do not clean with water or cut off the leaves. After harvesting, put them in a box or other dry location (I put them on wire racks in the sunroom) to cure for two weeks. Then, you can braid the leaves together and hang the bunch in the kitchen, pantry, or other place you have for storing onions and potatoes - but not in the fridge!

Pix:
1) Sprouting garlic.
2) Garlic in the ground, ready to be harvested.
3) Freshly harvested garlic.

 

[Dawgluver]

Thanks, GG, I'd been meaning to ask you about this. I planted some sprouted cloves from the Asian market a few weeks ago. They all have healthy green shoots. We're zone 5 here, so I'll probably leave them in over winter and see what I get next spring.

 

[Cheryl J]

Thank you, GG. I'll have to try that next time I see that my garlic has grown shoots.

 

[GotGarlic]

You're welcome, Dawg and Cheryl I hope yours are as successful as mine have been.

 

[Bookbrat]

Here in Zone 7, we can plant garlic and onions any time the ground can be worked and they will be ready about eight months later; .

I use garlic from the grocery store that has sprouted in the kitchen.
.

OK, I am jut a little jealous of the fact you can plant any time you want. AND that you can grow grocery store garlic. My Zone 5 (I say it's Z4 most years) doesn't like softneck garlic, although I have been working on one strain. I want to braid...hardnecks won't cooperate.

I plant a lot, with the goal of finding garlic with huge cloves (not elephant garlic) that stores until May and peels itself. Having some success with eastern European types. I'm down to 20 or so kinds...with 39 the all-time high, lol. We have gorging ourselves on scapes the last couple of weeks...one benefit of growing hardnecks.

 

[GotGarlic]

Wow, looks great, Bookbrat! We don't have nearly enough space for that much garlic.

 

[Steve Kroll]

OK, I am jut a little jealous of the fact you can plant any time you want. AND that you can grow grocery store garlic. My Zone 5 (I say it's Z4 most years) doesn't like softneck garlic, although I have been working on one strain. I want to braid...hardnecks won't cooperate.

I live in zone 4a, and the one softneck variety that consistently seemed to work well for me was called Polish White. I had to special order it, and always planted in November right before the ground froze - the same time my wife planted her flower bulbs. I could never get the stuff from the grocery store to grow, either. I suspect whatever variety it is was just too tender for my climate.

About 12 years ago, I tilled much of the garden under and planted a small vineyard its place. The vineyard has its own rewards, but I miss growing garlic, and especially miss the scapes.

 

[Addie]

This is from the people at Burpee Seed Company.

How to Grow Garlic Bulbs - Gardening Tips and Advice at Burpee.com

I hope it will give you information you are seeking. I always planted my cloves in the fall and let them winter over.

 

[GotGarlic]

This is from the people at Burpee Seed Company.

How to Grow Garlic Bulbs - Gardening Tips and Advice at Burpee.com

I hope it will give you information you are seeking. I always planted my cloves in the fall and let them winter over.

Who, me? I already know how to grow garlic. That's why I posted this thread

 

[FrankZ]

When I turned up to the garden this year to do the first tilling and get things ready there were these stalks poking up. Wasn't sure if they were onions, garlic or shallots (we had all three in last year roughly in that area).

Turns out we got garlic. Since they stalks were browning and dying back I pulled them a few days ago and they are curing.

 

[Andy M.]

Just curious.

Why do the cloves have to be sprouting? Couldn't you just buy a head of garlic, separate the cloves and plant them?

 

[Dawgluver]

Just curious.

Why do the cloves have to be sprouting? Couldn't you just buy a head of garlic, separate the cloves and plant them?

Sprouted cloves are bitter, so rather than throwing them away, why not plant them? You could also use an unsprouted head, but you wouldn't have garlic to eat right then.

 

[GotGarlic]

Sprouted cloves are bitter, so rather than throwing them away, why not plant them? You could also use an unsprouted head, but you wouldn't have garlic to eat right then.

Exactly

 

[FrankZ]

And some grocery store garlic is sprayed with something that inhibits sprouting.

 

[bethzaring]

Just curious.

Why do the cloves have to be sprouting? Couldn't you just buy a head of garlic, separate the cloves and plant them?

This what you do to plant garlic; separate a head of garlic into cloves and plant them.

What I am finding confusing or misleading about this thread is this. This thread is about salvaging a sprouting head of garlic that is not fit to use in cooking. It is not necessarily the preferred method of planting an intentional crop of garlic. To get the largest garlic bulbs possible, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer.

 

[Chef Munky]

This what you do to plant garlic; separate a head of garlic into cloves and plant them.

What I am finding confusing or misleading about this thread is this. This thread is about salvaging a sprouting head of garlic that is not fit to use in cooking. It is not necessarily the preferred method of planting an intentional crop of garlic. To get the largest garlic bulbs possible, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer.

After reading your posts from long ago.I thought you had mentioned that you used to plant the in the fall, harvest them in the summer.

I've planted cloves that were store bought,sprouting into large ceramic planters on my patio.Had no problems. They weren't as large at the time of picking as the store bought were originally.They grew anyways.

 

[GotGarlic]

This what you do to plant garlic; separate a head of garlic into cloves and plant them.

What I am finding confusing or misleading about this thread is this. This thread is about salvaging a sprouting head of garlic that is not fit to use in cooking. It is not necessarily the preferred method of planting an intentional crop of garlic. To get the largest garlic bulbs possible, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer.

This thread isn't about getting the largest bulbs possible; it's about salvaging a sprouting head of garlic, just like you said. I don't see what is misleading about that. I think it's pretty clear in the OP what it's about. Also, if you look at the third photo I posted, Those bulbs are pretty big. That's my husband's forearm behind them

 

[Kathleen]

And some grocery store garlic is sprayed with something that inhibits sprouting.

So you know that it is rigorous!

 

[sparrowgrass]

Garlic is a heavy feeder and it needs to be free of weeds to get really big. I bought some WalMart garlic 4 years ago and planted it--I haven't purchased garlic since then. It is a little hard to peel, but it keeps really well, and tastes great.

I plant in the fall, mulch with chicken litter and straw, and dig it in late June. My current crop is curing in the garage as we speak--I had almost a five gallon bucket full of heads from a 4 by 10 bed.

Pickled garlic is really, really good. The easiest way to peel mass quantities of garlic is to toss the cloves into boiling water for 30 seconds or so. The cloves pop right out of the peel.

 

[Roll_Bones]

This what you do to plant garlic; separate a head of garlic into cloves and plant them.

What I am finding confusing or misleading about this thread is this. This thread is about salvaging a sprouting head of garlic that is not fit to use in cooking. It is not necessarily the preferred method of planting an intentional crop of garlic. To get the largest garlic bulbs possible, garlic is planted in the fall and harvested the following summer.

After reading your posts from long ago.I thought you had mentioned that you used to plant the in the fall, harvest them in the summer.

I've planted cloves that were store bought,sprouting into large ceramic planters on my patio.Had no problems. They weren't as large at the time of picking as the store bought were originally.They grew anyways.

Garlic is a heavy feeder and it needs to be free of weeds to get really big. I bought some WalMart garlic 4 years ago and planted it--I haven't purchased garlic since then. It is a little hard to peel, but it keeps really well, and tastes great.

I plant in the fall, mulch with chicken litter and straw, and dig it in late June. My current crop is curing in the garage as we speak--I had almost a five gallon bucket full of heads from a 4 by 10 bed.

Pickled garlic is really, really good. The easiest way to peel mass quantities of garlic is to toss the cloves into boiling water for 30 seconds or so. The cloves pop right out of the peel.

I want to grow garlic now. I want big bulbs. I want tasty garlic.

I have had people ask me if i wanted garlic they grew and of course I said yes.
They looked more like over done green onions. Skinny and not garlic like.