Garlic Crop failure

I bought Solent & Picardy Wight form Garlic specialist.
Planted in Dec, all cloves grew.

However ... all stems had started going straw coloured, and by yesterday had fallen over to lie on the soil .... so decided to pull them ... almost every one was too small to be of use.

Most final bulbs were less than 25mm in diameter, several had also produced a bundle of small garlic bulbs (15mm) rather than one large single.

Loads of Sunshine in April & May, best year in decades ..... what would cause such a poor result ?

The whole crop only fit for the compost heap.

 

The first thing that comes to mind is lack of water.
I also note that both Solent Wight and Picardy Wight are softneck varieties, I gave up on softneck varieties some years ago and now only grow hardneck types which do better with me, never really worked out why.

 

Only thing I would say is I plant in November at the latest.

A couple I grew in pots to overwinter outside have not done much, but I only grew them to keep the variety going.

 

Not saying I am in any way an expert growing Garlic but have had very good results even when seasons have not been the best. I plant in October and put a cloche over the cloves during the winter months. By April of the following year the top growth is about a ft which heralds removing the cloche. Living in Scotland which is not known for the kindest winters! this method works for me and I normally get 100% of the planted cloves to produce a good sized bulb. Not too much winter wet especially while the cloves are starting into growth seems to be the key to success for me. Maybe @Sargan by planting in December the Cloves did not have enough time to put down roots before the cold wet winter.

 

I have tried garlic a few times but it always fails to grow I once got some bulbs and they turned out a couple months later sweet peas what a joke
I stick to buying organic garlic

 

They are both silverskin softnecks, I had the same issue with another silverskin softneck last year. Vigour supreme I think. I also planted it a bit late. I'd recommend trying one of the french artichoke softnecks , germidour, messindrome or thermidrome. These all do well for me in Scotland, planted usually end of September/start of October. So they stand wet winters, although if your soil gets actually waterlogged then no garlic will like that!

I also grow hardneck called Spanish morado, which were originally supermarket bought. They do fine although they have smaller bulbs, but stronger flavour and produce scapes being a hardneck. They keep well too

 

The seller advised as long as in before cold weather and/or end of Jan it was fine .... I put them in 1st week Dec, they started off well and had good growth by March.
Everyone grew …. but all small cloves.


I’ll take advise here …and plant Oct, this year.

I am not familiar with varieties you mention, I went for the ones the gardening books recommended.
I’m open to trying something new in parallel next year.

With warmest & sunniest spring on record, thought I'd have a bumper crop.

 

I was very late planting my garlic, I haven't had a furtle yet but they all look OK topwise. Still green and upright. The very wet winter is probably the reason for a poor crop, garlic hates being wet. I gave up trying to grow it in the ground for several years as mine went down with mildew. Grew it in pots which was more successfull then gave the open ground another try this last year. I must go and have a dig around to see if I have any bulbs.

 

Our garlic crop last year was very small bulbs and I nearly composted them but then decided waste not want not. I’m glad I did as they had a fabulous flavour and were ideal for squishing, unpeeled, in amongst my roasted potatoes and veg for Sunday lunches. It wasn’t much of a crop so didn’t last long but still nice to have our own for a couple of months.

This years garlic are looking healthy, but then so did last years, so we will have to wait and see

 

So for next year, I’ll plant in Oct this year.
I’m down South, don’t get frosts or snow normally.

I grow in large raised beds, I could easily add extra grit to provide additional drainage in one block.

Welcome any other suggestions for varieties .. typically I have grown So,ent Wight or Picardy Wight in the past

 

Oh dear, we’ve had both of those. I haven’t watered mine as they look ok, I’m a very mean waterer.

 

Certainly did not have a cold wet Winter here. Maybe it was lack of water ? ....but I did water frequently.

 

I think you just planted too late, unless your soil has one of the onion diseases like white rot.

Nothing dies of lack of water in the UK in winter.