This is my first visit here so apologies if this question has been asked before but... I planted garlic late last year and they've been doing really well, but when I checked them today I noticed that about 20cms up the stem from the soil surface there are these little cloves that have formed. They are not flower heads - they look like proper little cloves, but they're up the stem rather than under/on the soil. Does anyone know what they are and what I should do about or with them?

In article , Annawen.6ad3086
@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

This is my first visit here so apologies if this question has been asked
before but... I planted garlic late last year and they've been doing
really well, but when I checked them today I noticed that about 20cms up
the stem from the soil surface there are these little cloves that have
formed. They are not flower heads - they look like proper little
cloves, but they're up the stem rather than under/on the soil. Does
anyone know what they are and what I should do about or with them?

They're called bulbils. They can be cooked with, too. Had a laugh when
my wife decided to try some in the garden the other day. ...hot stuff.

If you planted them, you'd get more garlic.

The cloves are underground.

You harvest when the tops start to die back. Use a fork to loosen the
soil and lift them. There's lots of info. on the net.

We have so much garlic growing from cloves and bulbils that we had to
harvest early to make room for other stuff...

Annawen wrote:

Does
anyone know what they are and what I should do about or with them?


What Phorbin said, with an addition: Hardneck garlic types put up scapes
that later have bulbils on them. In most cases you should cut the scapes
off to direct more food to the bulb, unless your soil fertility is much
higher than mine.
The bulbils are a good way to propagate garlic, since soil-borne diseases
aren't carried over, but it will take an extra year or more to get back to
full-sized bulbs.


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/4 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G