Harvesting garlic, shallots & onions and planting leeks
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- Опубликовано: 17 июн 2024
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I grew toughball for this season, after following your growing guide, (never grown them before). I am going to harvest them on Friday- absolutely thrilled with them- they're gorgeous. Thank you.Happy gardening 🙂
Great and informative as always. I'm South manchester based. Harvested my garlic last week and pleased with size. I usually plant end of October, always in best sunny position I can manage, mulch Spring and cut off scapes as they appear. The latter warns me they are nearly ready and then when about a third of the leaves are looking yellow I have a peep to see how big some are and then make the decision to go for it. Have learnt over the years not to leave it too long or they start to split and won't store as well. I dry off in my greenhouse over a couple of weeks or so on racks and then plait up into strings. My garlic lasts for ages as I picked up the tip years ago to not let the bulbs go below 10 degrees C. (Used to store in the shed and the garlic would break dormancy in the winter!) I now keep it in the kitchen away from the cooking area where the temperature is pretty constant and am just finishing off the last of last years now. Not all bulbs survived that long but I still have half a dozen of so left still where I can salvage a decent number of cloves. Definitely going to give Toughball a go. Thanks Steve. Love the videos and your Newsletter.
That's very similar to my approach, although I grow softneck, so no scapes to tell me to get ready to harvest. I've also found that above 4c is warm enough, same with onions, to stop premature sprouting. You do well to keep it so long though, we switch over to green garlic in mid-spring, such a treat compared to old stored bulbs : All the best - Steve
Good show, cheers Steve
Thank you for sharing friend 11:38
Garlic here in West Cumbria has suffered badly with rust - harvested my softneck on Monday, as the leaves were completely yellow with it. Hardneck still has some green leaves, so it'll get another week or two.
Garlic in the polytunnel completely unaffected (originally from Aldi & now in its fourth generation/year).
Toughball looks interesting as a way to fill the 'onion gap' - added to my seed list for next year.
It's definitely been a year for rust, that's why I picked mine so early, it's a shame, it would have grown visibly if left another 2 weeks : All the best - Steve
Very useful esp about importance of day length. Getting them out of the ground in June is very helpful. Will try toughball next year. Many thanks again.
and they keep well too, we ate our last ones in February, they don't keep as well as the red onions, which were still good in May : All the best - Steve
My toughball didn't do very well this year. I was given some bulbs. Can't remember the name though they done well but sadly have gone to seed. Leeks looked really good
Wow the difference in the garlic was amazing
Yeah, slow feed all through spring from good compost and full sun makes a big difference
Been growing shallots from my own sets kept back from previous years crop for thirty years now. Never known any to go to seed. My Welsh onions on the other hand always go to seed but as a perennial I just remove the flowers to stop them seeding everywhere.
So many variables in gardening, but after 2 years and two varieties it's hard to motivate myself to try again, especially as I've only ever had success with growing from seed. Did you see anything that I did wrong, or maybe share your timings etc : All the best - Steve
My Welsh onions do the same but they are so marvelous to have as stand-by salad onions aren't they?
Aye the Welsh onions are a good stand by. As for the shallots. I tie them up in strings and use instead of onions as they store so much better. Used to plant direct into soil but now start in modules in the poly tunnel. However both ways work well.
Usually start off end of march beginning of April. I'm afraid I don't know what variety it is as have been growing for so long now.
Ah ok, I start mine in modules in February, so perhaps too early
A great video Steve. Interesting about the day length for onions. I grew Toughball for the first time this year. Amazing harvest. Will defo grow again.
Do you remember when you sowed them?
Yes Steve, third week in August. Planted out third week in October. Harvested beginning of this week. They were planted at 6” each way in a raised bed and covered with an environmesh hoop cover. The end result is out of 56 planted, 45 measure between 3” and 4”. The others still of useful size. I have never had an onion crop like this in the past.
Same as mine I think, it’s later than is generally recommended, but I think the traditional earlier sowing dates are too early now that our winters are milder. I lost half of mine in that very cold December, so I’d have been better giving them a little protection
@@SteveRichards yes, I agree about the need to protect crops. In my case, it is mainly to protect from pigeons, etc. as well as the obvious insect pests. I’ve just harvested my first planting of garlic. Rubbish… on about half of the bulbs, the cloves had split and all of them were affected by rust. Thankfully, only one has signs of white rot. So, you win some and lose some.
Oh dear, that’s early for bulbs to have split
Once again another video of useful insights- Will try the toughball onion and adopt your leek transplanting system! Thank you so much 🙏💜
What a great video Steve, thanks again. I am keen to try out the long depth plastic containers, but I don't know which size it is, as there are a couple of sizes. Thanks again.
This is the shallow tray, which I liked the best if you want to leave your leeks for a long time containerwise.co.uk/product/15l-shallow-long-life-propagation-tray-15-cells-e/ this tray is also more versatile. This is the deeper tray which is slightly more difficult to use, but works well too and is more space efficient containerwise.co.uk/product/28h-deep-long-life-propagation-tray-28-cells-e/ but it's only really suitable for sweetcorn and leeks, but who needs 28 cells of sweetcorn!
What did you mulch garlic in spring with? Did you leave in fall bare soil? I covered mine with dry leaf when it sprouted in late fall. Should've maybe leave open and cover in spring instead. Will experiment your way this fall :😂
Garlic doesn't really need to be protected in England and Wales, I mulched with fresh compost, in my case I used well rotted farmyard manure, but spent mushroom compost is great too : All the best - Steve
I have yet to crack alliums in this garden. My garlic was tiny. I wonder if it is a light issue. I have had variable results with shallots and my onions, while nice, have been small. Leeks tiny. Onward!
So many variables in gardening, it's hard to figure out without knowing the soil, climate, spacings, timings etc : All the best - Steve
Impressive garlic Steve. Mine was small and had to be harvested in May as the leaves were browning. They were in full sun and topped off with our home grown compost. I planted in DecemberI think. So, Ill have to check your ebook and try to get them in this year.
Even though they are small they are ever so strong...Early Purple Wight.
October is definitely better than December, but you have to have the space available which can often be a struggle. Home made compost can be very variable, or at least mine can be. I prefer well composted horse manure, farmyard manure or mushroom compost myself - if I can get it.
@@SteveRichards yes, October sees full beds on a good year but we made two new big mounds from garden and kitchen waste which rotten down lovely. They are at the top of our neighbours garden and were specifically for pumpkins. I am wondering if garlic could be popped in around the pumpkin pkants as they get harvested and cut back?. Will the garlic need protection in winter?
@@SteveRichards I have been incorporating bags of well rotted manure (not at well rotted as it ought to be) bought from Amazon. A bit expensive. We live in horse country but getting the stuff delivered is not happening 🤔
Garlic doesn’t need protecting from the weather in England or wales
@@SteveRichards okay. I did mulch with wood chips against the frost. That may have been another mistake then.
Hi Steve
Your videos and growing skills amazing me! Can I ask if your mini greenhouse is in sun and that’s ok for drying the onions? I’m wondering where I could try to dry mine!
It is in sun, the doors are wide open and I have shade net over it. It might be too hot if it’s very sunny. I’m drying my garlic in my workshop with fans
Thanks Steve!
Do you vary the variety of garlic you grow? Or stick with something you know is successful? Thanks
I’m just using bulbs selected from last years crop. I generally pick the better bulbs
What are the signs that shallots are ready to harvest.. ? mine did put up a seed head.. Lander Wyoming. uSA
size and leaf yellowing, but once they throw up a seed head, that it, they won't grow any more : All the best - Steve
Hi Steve -- are the flowering shallots edible?
They are, but I had so many small ones that didn’t flower and also won’t keep for long that I composted mine
In those CW deep root trainers at the end of video for the leeks, how many do you aim to multisow i see maybe 4-5 ? I like this method but don’t want to crowd them out, Thanks
I did mention this in the video, I thinned them to 3-4 leeks per module
I have to say, baby grass-like leeks are amazingly resilliant and really handle being gently pulĺed apart after being heavily sown. They recover straight off. I used by a big bag from a Cornish farmer for pennies and they would arrive 'bare' rooted and stuffed in a plastic bag all matted together. They all bucked up once in the ground. He just dug a patch from his field, washed off and posted.
@@SteveRichards thank you very much I clearly missed that very sorry
They are indeed, that’s why people do it that way, but they do seem to to do even better in modules, especially if transplanted just before a period of hot, dry weather
@lynnpurfield9430 I’m planting my leeks much bigger than grass size btw
Hi Steve. Im growing banana shallots for the first time. They look healthy but lots of top and not so much bulb. Should I expect them to bulb up more - theyre beginning to fall over. ?
If you sowed them in Feb then they won’t be ready until August. They only start to bulb in mid May, so they won’t have bulbed up much yet
Thanks for the video Steve. Is there anything I can do to encourage my garlic to form cloves?
not now, assuming it got cold enough over winter, it just takes time, if it didn't get cold enough, then it won't clove : All the best - Steve
I never thought of the cold! It was a very mild winter here, I suppose I'll just wait and see. Thankyou
see my ebook chapter on garlic for details of the cold : All the best - Steve