Almost everyone who grows garlicgrows it from “ seed garlic”(the single cloves from a bulb ) . But garlic can also be turn from “ truthful garlic seed , ” which is far less coarse , as sexual reproduction in ail is much more complicated and rarely guarantees practicable seeds .
In between seed garlic and true garlic seed , you have another option : originate ail from top - setting bulbils , which comport like seeds ( but are technically not seeds , as they ’re the issue of asexual reproduction ) .
Bulbils signifier on top of the coiling flower still hunt known as a shaft and look like miniature cloves of garlic , which is meet , since they ’re essentially clones of the parent industrial plant . Many people call these bulbils “ garlic seed ” since they can also be embed to develop a genetically identical crop ( albeit over a farseeing period of time , usually two to three age ) .
So why would you choose to plant bulbil instead of cloves ?
Well , if you ’re looking for an easy and cost - efficacious way to cultivate hundreds or even thousands of garlic flora , bulbils are the way to go .
While the typical hardneck garlic variety may only produce 4 to 8 cloves that are large enough to save for planting , it will bring forth anywhere from 10 to 100 bulbils if the scapes are bequeath intact . dissimilar kind of garlic produce unlike size of it of bulbils , range from those the size of it of pea down to some as small as grain of rice .
Letting a few garlic scapes suppurate each class mean you could collect gobs of bulbil and plant perennial garlic patches that leave harvests in all degree ( frombaby garlicto fully grown garlic and everything in between ) .
Collecting garlic seed
Hardneck garlic plants typically flower in former spring to former summertime , producing the delectable treat we all bang as garlic scape . Gardeners usually murder the scapes as before long as they appear because they stunt the growth of the bulbs by redirecting energy into the production of seeded player . Not to mention , you ’d be throw away dead estimable food if you didn’tharvest the scapes !
Read more : How touse garlic flower stalk in your everyday preparation
But if you want to gather up seed , leave the scapes alone and let them maturate through late summer to former fall . The flower cluster ( flowering ) will continue expanding , eventually splitting the sheath surface to reveal green or over-embellished bulblet inside . ( The vividness look on the variety of garlic grown . )
Quick tip
Can you eat garlic bulbils ? Yes , you may ! When they ’re still fresh on the flora , you could reveal them aside to habituate like regular garlic — just toss them whole into a bag .
As the seeds ( bulbils ) mature and dry , they ’ll bulge out to work brownish and the quietus of the plant will die back .
When this happens , slew off the entire cluster with the bulbil entire . you’re able to also harvest the garlic bulb at the base of the works , as it ’ll still be usable ( but likely smaller than your other bulb that were harvested earlier ) .
draw in the bulbils asunder and leave them out to dry all in a well - ventilated area for a few days . Since the bulbil have been above dry land , they dry out out much faster thangarlic bulb that are cure .
Once fully dried , the bulbils can be stored with your other garden seeds .
relate : How tosave and store seeds for next yr ’s garden
Growing garlic from bulbils
Planting bulbils is a bit different from planting seed garlic . One bantam bulblet will call for a full year to get ground in the soil and grow to the size of a garlic clove . It will need another yr ( sometimes up to two age ) to produce a full harvestable electric-light bulb .
Plant your bulbil in gloam , as you do with seed Allium sativum . ( I advocate planting them far out from your regular crop so you do n’t accidentally harvest them the following summer and end up disappointed with the size . )
Since the bulblet are so small , they only want to be buried 1/2 - in deeply in well - draining grease , about 4 inches aside . Keep them mulch and mourning band - free with temperate watering , and patiently bide your time until the plants are quick for harvest . ( You ’ll know when they are by usingthis same trick to gauge when your Allium sativum is in full developed . )
But the wait will be deserving it — garlic grow from top - setting bulblet are practically liberal when you consider how abundant they are , and they ’ll keep propagating class after year even if you do nothing .
