I moved into this 100 yr old house in July of last year. There we things growing here that we didnt know what they were. Thousands of plants everywhere. It had been years since anyone worked the flower beds.There was 2 different areas, under Catawba trees where something was growing that looked like a daylily plant. But it never bloomed, so i kinda forgot about it. Until it came back up this year. Well, yesterday while checking on all of my flowers, i decided to pull up one of these plants, to see what type bulb it had. To my surprise, It was Garlic!!!! :dance: The leave were turning yellow, so i decided to pull all of the plants up. I brought them inside, washed them and took off all of the leaves and stalk. I wieghed them and I have 5 pounds of fresh garlic. The whole house smells like garlic.......and believe it or not, it's a very nice smell. One question tho..........there are zillions of garlic "babies". Does anyone know when and how these should be planted?? They were really doing well under the catawba tree, should i just plant them all there? We have about 8 huge catawba trees, we were thining about cutting down. Maybe I should keep them?? I'm so excited that I have these growing in my own back yard!! And the taste and smell is much better than those bought in the markets.
This isn't answering your question, but do you have any caterpillars on your trees? They will get all over them and strip them, but it doesn't seem to harn the tree. They are supposed to be great for fishing. Your supposed to turn them inside out and put them on a hook I think. For some reason they will not live if you catch them and give them leaves to eat. They won't eat when they're off the tree, even if the leaves are in water.
If the little bulbs are hanging on the roots of the large bulbs, they will grow. Plant them now in a row no more than 2 inches deep. That way you can tell where they are. They will take at least two years to amount to much. Most people plant large garlic cloves as late as possible in the fall. These will produce a large bulb the next spring.
If those little bulbs are growing off the base of the larger bulbs, it's technically not garlic but a close cousin. It's actually a leek as that's the only member of the allium family which will multiply in that manner. But you are also quite right about the garlic taste and odor. It's more than likely elephant garlic! In some parts of the South, also known as giant garlic. Grows like weeds throughout the South once it is established and allowed to go wild. If grown in full sun, and under less crowded conditions, it will produce a large compound flower just like a regular leek or onion. Alas, they do not do well in the extreme northern states as they do not enjoy our winters. Martin
