Two garlic questions

[caroline7758]

Dug up my early garlic today as it was getting a lot of rust. Had to chuck a couple of cloves which were going mouldy but otherwise much better than last year. In one row, however, quite a few bulbs seemed to be splitting, as if the cloves were trying to separate. What would cause this?

Secondly, I planted a second lot of garlic in early Feb and it's looking pretty poor- going yellow and stems no more than half an inch diameter. When would you expect it to be ready, and should I feed it?

[caroline7758]

[vegmandan]

This splitting of cloves happened to me when I planted in Autumn once,I think it's as if the bulb is fully formed and its seperate cloves are about to start to grow again into further bulbs.

As for the Feb grown stuff just scrape some soil from around the base to reveal the bulb to see if it's growing big enough.

Peversley I tend to find that garlic with thinner top growth tends to produce larger bulbs sometimes rather than the ones with big thick stems.

If you feel you need to feed then I'd feed with a liquid tomato sort of feed or miracle grow. :)

[Magnolia]

I had a root around my garlic planted in October - the bulbs arn't very big.  Going to leave them in the ground until August unless the stalks die.

[caroline7758]

Mine were planted 1st November. Strange thing is, I wrote down that I'd planted half white and half red, and they seem to all be red, or is that just how they look when they first come out? Can't remember from last year!