Have people grown garlic from supermarket human consumption ones - or do people
always use garden-centre bulbs?

Judith in England wrote:

Have people grown garlic from supermarket human consumption ones - or do people
always use garden-centre bulbs?

You can, but you won't know the variety or whether it harbors soil-borne
diseases. IMHO, better to get a few bulbs from a trusted source as close
to home as possible, and expand your stock from them. Garlic is believed
to adapt to local conditions, so growing your own seed stock is a good
thing.


--
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

On Thursday, November 15, 2012 9:58:58 PM UTC, Judith in England wrote:

Have people grown garlic from supermarket human consumption ones - or do people
always use garden-centre bulbs?

Cloves intended for consumption are fine. Its a good way to use up garlic cloves that have sat around too long and shrivelled or sprouted.


NT

On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:01:56 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Thursday, November 15, 2012 9:58:58 PM UTC, Judith in England wrote:

Have people grown garlic from supermarket human consumption ones - or do people
always use garden-centre bulbs?

Cloves intended for consumption are fine. Its a good way to use up garlic cloves that have sat around too long and shrivelled or sprouted.


NT


I have had them sprout quite readily when I haven't used them in the past; but
more recently they do not seem to have sprouted as much. I wondered if they
were being discouraged from reproducing in some way.

Gary Woods wrote in
:

Judith in England wrote:

Have people grown garlic from supermarket human consumption ones - or
do people always use garden-centre bulbs?

You can, but you won't know the variety or whether it harbors
soil-borne diseases. IMHO, better to get a few bulbs from a trusted
source as close to home as possible, and expand your stock from them.
Garlic is believed to adapt to local conditions, so growing your own
seed stock is a good thing.



We have used shop bought ones with great success and use them as sets every
year. Seeds too but the seeds are too time consuming. I know we were lucky
in a garlic lottery, but at the time we knew nothing of pests and diseases.
We got away that one thankfuly. We use garlic almost every day so 10-20
bulbs are needed each season, taking cloves for setting into account. That
can be 20%, depending on how the crop produces.
I/we have a row of 25 in right now and will plant again in spring. If we
have too many, allowing for failures, they will be donated.

Baz

Some of the Spanish varieties are bred for warmer climates than ours, so may not do well. But worth a try if they've sprouted and are unusable for cooking with.

On 16/11/2012 12:57, Granity wrote:

Judith in England;972978 Wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 15:01:56 -0800 (PST), wrote:
-
On Thursday, November 15, 2012 9:58:58 PM UTC, Judith in England wrote:
-
Have people grown garlic from supermarket human consumption ones - or
do people
always use garden-centre bulbs?-

Cloves intended for consumption are fine. Its a good way to use up
garlic cloves that have sat around too long and shrivelled or sprouted.


NT-


I have had them sprout quite readily when I haven't used them in the
past; but
more recently they do not seem to have sprouted as much. I wondered if
they
were being discouraged from reproducing in some way.

Some of the Spanish varieties are bred for warmer climates than ours, so
may not do well. But worth a try if they've sprouted and are unusable
for cooking with.


It's strange that we don't don't use green garlic; that is garlic before
it bulbs up; in this country, a bit milder and ready earlier, a good use
for sprouting cloves as it doesn't matter if it's suited to our climate,
it will still make good stems.

David Hill wrote:

It's strange that we don't don't use green garlic; that is garlic before
it bulbs up; in this country, a bit milder and ready earlier, a good use
for sprouting cloves as it doesn't matter if it's suited to our climate,

FWIW, a commercial grower I talked to tosses all the small cloves left over
from planting (small cloves make small bulbs usually) at the end of the row
and pulls the resulting green garlic. Makes for a cash crop early in the
season when there isn't much else coming in. He has a sizeable Asian
community nearby, and they snap it up as fast as it appears on the shelf!


--
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