I suspect that planting garlic now (November) would result in the plant growing somewhat then dying back as summer heat increases and moisture is reduced. The plant would then shoot from any resulting new cloves in march and you would end up with 4 or 6 plants growing in a circle about 2 inches in diameter. These could be used as sets next yer however they would be growing from small cloves and this usually results in small or poor plants.
I always propagate from the 10 or so best bulbs from each years harvest.
There isnt anything really wrong with planting the generic white chinese supermarket variety except that they are generally treated to inhibit/slow germination.
There are lots of different varieties of garlic so keep an eye out at markets and nurseries for different varieties to experiment with.
Like a lot of flowering bulbs garlic is normally planted in autumn or winter. You could give it a try if someone has given you some cloves. It will probably not be harvestable until next year. NEVER use cloves from supermarkets or fruit shops unless you can be sure it is Australian grown as most garlic on sale is grown in China and they have something in their garlic that we don't want in Australian soils.
14 Nov 16 Lambrina (Australia - temperate climate)
I am also wondering this - I know the best time (from researching) is Apr, May, June BUT I am just wondering if it is worth my while planting now and if I will get any results?
Lambrina, I think you'd be wasting your garlic to plant them now at end of year. They need about 7 months to grow and you'll be expecting them to finish their season in Winter - it won't be pretty! For temperate, plant by end April and you'll be harvesting Nov/Dec. I am able to use horse/cow manure on my garlic bed about 4 weeks before planting and the garlic loves it. Had my best garlic harvest 2 days ago. good luck. Mary
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