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Posted by Swedboy (U14400604) on Monday, 11th July 2011
Just spotted that my garlic has produced flowerbuds. Does this mean I should lift them or just cut the flowers off? I think someone told me they are really nice in food by the way.
Yes shortly after composting mine I read they were nice stir fried! I think the idea is to cut them off as soon as you can so the plant carries on putting energy into the bulb instead.
I lifted mine a week or so ago (Solent Wight), if you know what variety yours is it might help with when to lift it.
The tops of mine started dying back & I dug gently around the top of one bulb to see what was going on & decided they could go a bit longer. After a couple more weeks the foliage totally went over & it was obvious they were ready for lifting.
So what does your foliage look like?
Mine is Christo
The top is still green but the lower part is dying down.
I'll let them stay in the ground for a bit longer and cut off the flower for some food experiment later this week.
If the leaves are dying back I would get them out sooner rather than later . I think with garlic it's all about when it's planted . I planted mine at the end of September and lifted it at least a month ago. I never have much luck with spring planting. Probably live too far north. If you cut back the buds by half I am told it increases the size of the bulbs.And yes, they are good to eat.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'cut the buds back by half'. Each garlic clove only produces one shoot if you have planted it correctly. That certainly should not be cut back.
The twisted seed head/ stem is called a' scape' and yes these can be cut off and used in a stir fry.
If the leaves have started dying back you may as well lift them because they wil not bulk up much more.
There are some who say that unlike some other plants that run to seed, garlic is not affected in the same way. So leaving them in place is up to the grower.
The stalk goes hard if you wait for flowerhead maturity, so if you want the foliage too, get them early on.
The taste of flower head/bulbil is exactly the same as the bulb.
The stalk goes hard if you wait for flowerhead maturity, so if you want the foliage too, get them early on.
The taste of flower head/bulbil is exactly the same as the bulb.Â
Sorry but that first paragraph doesn't make sense to me.
The stalk grows out of the foliage. The foliage is soft. The stalk is hard and unchewable even by me.
Can you make sense of that?
The stalk grows out of the foliage. The foliage is soft. The stalk is hard and unchewable even by me.
Can you make sense of that?
The stalk has flowers on the top which turn in to little bulbs all of their own; you can plant them.
I live in chilly Perth and have great success with garlic--- I started by planting several cloves one spring- they didn't do a lot, so I just ignored them, left them in the ground over winter, and ever since they have reliably reappeared and produced a great crop. I harvest quite a lot each year by digging up several clumps once the leaves die back, but always leave some in the ground for the next year. This year's crop are great again, despite temperatures of minus 16 over the winter.
Interesting. Maybe I should leave one for next year and see what happens. Do you let them flower too?
Maggie's way is almost certainly the best Swedboy.
Expect nothing from them; forget about them and get a pleasant surprise in a couple or three year's time.
If they flower, they flower- and it doesn't seem to affect the next year's crop.
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