"Stewart Robert Hinsley" wrote ...
after Bob Hobden
wrote

Garlic can be planted outside now but it would have been much better
planted in Sept, early October. It's as tough as old boots and will come
through a winter growing well and you get a much much better crop from
autumn planted cloves.

When you buy garlic in the shops the instructions on the packets say plant
in February or thereabouts. (But you can't plant them in the autumn
because they're not sold them.)

So last year I did as instructed, and they didn't do very well - though a
wet allotment and last summer's weather probably didn't help them*. I
didn't get round to replanting them last autumn (round the allotment the
wisdom seems to be November) (but some of a batch that I thought had
failed completely have come up again this year), so again I've planted
them in February.

So my question is, how late can you plant garlic, i.e. will you get away
with planting in December and January?

* A planting of shallots was killed off by flooding, as were too many
other plants.

Personally if I couldn't plant it in the autumn I wouldn't bother, when I've
tried it in the past it just ends in very small cloves...not worth the
bother imo. Autumn planted gets as big as anything in the shops.
The seed companies send out garlic for autumn planting and I know of some
GCs that stock it in the autumn too. If yours doesn't then complain and keep
complaining until they wake up, or shop elsewhere. Of course you could
always plant your own again or just greengrocer bought garlic, anything is
better than waiting until the spring.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK