My garlic from the store has always sprouted, no prob.
Why did you do them inside? Nancy

I agree with Nancy, all store garlic is not treated. But even if it's not, the varieties are not very interesting.
And all garlic seed is not $23/lb. I sell it online for $10/lb.

-Mark

I read garlic needs to feel a freeze before really taking off

Never had a problem with store bought garlic growing. I always plant it in late fall so it can overwinter. Not much more for nursery garlic which I much prefer for quality and quantify.

Put the Garlic in the fridge for a few weeks and it will start sprouting.

Now I know my mistake may be it did not sprout because I had the pots on heating pads. I do that for all my seedlings. I did not know that the garlic needs cold to sprout. MADRONEB if you sell garlic why are you not on Google. When I searched, I never got your name or your $10 a pound. I got some big nurseries selling it at 11.50 for half a pound and it came to $5 per head. I spent the money and got enough seeds but just for curiosity, I will put some store heads in the refrig first and see what will happen.

I agree with most of the postings, it seems to me that you might be trying to hard. Even if you were to get it to sprout now, I doubt you would get anything but rounds come June/July. Garlic should be planted in late fall, and then you basically let nature run it's course over the winter.

I've never had a problem getting store bought garlic to sprout, in fact, that's what sort of got me into gardening to begin with about 5 years ago...had an old head sitting on the cupboard for a couple weeks, one morning there were a few green shoots coming out of it! I thought "Hey! Maybe I can plant it!" So I did, and nothing happened, ended up with a pot of moldy dirt that smelled like garlic.

But that's what brought me to GardenWeb, and over the last couple years have sought the advice of some very knowledgeable folk, such as Madroneb, Digdirt, NancyJane, JohnHughes, and many many others (sorry if I didn't mention your name, just a sort of shout out to all who have helped over the last couple years.)

Anyhoo, good luck with your garlic, and if nothing happens, there's always next fall!

Personally I'd return the $25 worth of garlic back to the nursery that sold it to you. A reputable nursery selling garlic now for planting now is ripping you off. They know it should have been planted last fall.

Best you can hope for from your $25 planted outside now is $5 worth of cloves to planted next fall.

JMO

Dave

Foolishpleasure,
My user name here is not my business and so is not on google.
Click on "my page" and find my website where I have it listed. In the fall when it's garlic planting time, contact me.

The first year I gardened I didn't know garlic was supposed to be planted in the fall, so I planted store garlic in the spring.
It did well enough for spring planted garlic that was planted in my poor first year soil.
it did several years later freeze out when planted in the fall.
Since then I have tryed several other types from the store. But Usualy I get bored with them an end up culling out that type and Plant more of the types I purchased at farmers markets. Which is the only way I can get new kinds because the big growerss won't ship to Idaho.
I agree I won't pay $23 a pound either. There must be a farmers market you can get some Of the fancyer strains from. In my experience the seller will know the name of the garlic he is selling.I usually only pay 50 cents a bulb for it.

I've been messing with garlic for a few years, most of it came up ok, 1 year it never grew.
Last fall I spent more than I should have or wanted to and purchased some really nice garlic from a garlic farm in New England, it was shipped when ready, I waited 3 months for it.
It came with nice info on planting, taking care, and harvesting.
I made a special raised bed for it (IMAGE), planted in Oct,
a few sprouts in Dec.
I am of the opinion these bulbs are able to be used next season, a friend of mine grows garlic every year, always uses last years bulbs.
We still have garlic in the freezer from 2-3 years ago.
Lots of fun and enjoy something growing all winter
White lattice keeping squirrels out

madroneb

I checked out your web site. Love the logo. Gardens look GREAT!

Good on You!

Lots of garlic butchery in this thread, with some karma ($23 for bonsai?). Always get a first idea about culture by googling

xxx culture home gardener

when you are starting a new crop. Garlic is the easiest annual crop, bar none, if planted in the Fall in average garden soil. It needs a shot of fertilizer in Feb/Mar, de-scaping in June (first crop), and main crop in July-August. There is no place in the lower 48 where it is too cold to leave garlic outside unprotected. Mulch might make a small difference by avoiding root damage from the freeze-thaw cycle, but it is a small improvement compared to, for example, cutting the scape.

Excellent point Glib. It is so easy to first read about HOW to do something before wasting money, time, and effort on doing it.

"how to grow_______" works wonders on Google. So does "when to plant______" and "how to germinate_________".

Dave