I live on the North Coast and have not posted here on the Garden Thread. But I am hoping a few of you will indulge me in this discussion.
Since China is a major source of Garlic, I have taken one of the many heads of garlic I have and broken it down into cloves, started rooting them in water.
Can I pot them inside to grow?
Since the winter has been so mild, can I plant them now with a leaf muclch cover to harvest later?
You CAN grow them inside, but what they’ll do is produce a lot of ‘greens’ (which you can clip and use for flavor, much like a green onion) versus making you nice, juicy heads of garlic.
If you’re concerned about garlic from China, try these sources because I know for a FACT (having worked for both companies and having cleaned my share of Garlic for shipping in the past) that they are sourced in the USA and NOT from China! An amazing amount of Garlic for the home gardener comes from the East Coast and surprisingly, Wisconsin!
When you order, tell them the Planting Zone or Zip Code you are in, and they will ship them to you at the proper planting time.
For example, I am in Zone 4/5, so I plant my garlic in the Fall of the year, cover it with mulch, let it sit over winter, then let it grow all the next summer for harvest again in the Fall of the next year - then I later re-plant some that I have just harvested and dried for a few weeks.
Tubebender is our Garlic Guru and he is in Northern CA. Anything to add, Tubey? ;)
I plant my Garlic in mid to late October here on the shores of Humboldt Bay near Oregon and harvest it in early to mid Summer