Yan, my garlic never starts growing tops until spring... but I think Ken's grows throughout the winter; you are somewhere in between us, so ? I hope you will report back with how things turn out!

Sandy, we had a very warm Fall this year, I think the garlic got a little confused 😖, the varieties are 3" tall is all the hard neck varieties, and others just come out of the soil a little bit, I think if I mulch them it will be ok through winter. I will keep you posted on how their doing.

Last updated on my garlic, I mulched then with 4" mulch, but didn't looks like its going to stop growing, now it's about 6" tell on the hard neck variety, 3" on the other, I guess we should see what this crazy weather go to effect my garden this coming year.LOL

That's actually about right, Yan. Mine will be 8-12" tall when winter really sets in.

Ken, did you finally get your garlic planted?

I wonder how tender the garlic tops really are? The conventional wisdom is that they shouldn't start sprouting in the north before winter sets in... but if I leave onions in the garden they survive; that might be the next way I need to try pushing the envelope!

Yan, I hope your garlic does well for you, and please keep us updated!

I got it all planted a week ago, Sandy.

drdawg said:That's actually about right, Yan. Mine will be 8-12" tall when winter really sets in.

Ken, I'm in zone 7a, that's not normal for this zone, we have snow in January into March, sometimes a lot , sometimes not much, 7 years ago we got 2' of snow back to back in one week.I hope mother nature will be good to me.

Garlic, particularly hardneck, can easily handle anything (your) Mother Nature throws at it. Heck, this stuff grows where the lows reach double digits, not double digits above freezing but double digits below freezing.

Yan, you could consider putting a simple "low tunnel" made of PVC pipes and clear plastic sheeting over your garlic for a little extra protection. Last year I planted onion sets in the fall that grew to about a foot tall before winter set in; I covered them with a low tunnel and they never missed a beat, just paused and then continued growing again when the weather warmed up. But I actually think that the worst that will happen to your garlic in any case is that the tops will die back and it will start growing again in the spring, which will likely weaken the plants a bit and your bulbs will be a little smaller than they might have been otherwise. I'll actually be very interested to hear what does end up happening, if the tops don't die back then the bulbs will likely be larger than they would normally be.

We had 30" snow on the ground now, really don't know how my garlic are doing, I think the tops all died for sure now, Spring is not too far away we should see.

I wouldn't be so sure about that, Yan -- having the temp go down to 30 and getting a snowstorm after my garlic is up in the spring would be a common occurrence up here! (with no ill effects)

Snow is actually a huge asset, @huang049. Which would those garlic tops be most influenced by, 10F with a wind-chill, or the temperature below that blanket of snow?

We had 30" snow on the ground now, really don't know how my garlic are doing, I think the tops all died for sure now, Spring is not too far away we should see.

Oops, I misread your original post (maybe I should put my glasses on); at any rate, 30 inches of snow also would not be unusual here, I think your garlic will be fine! (I know it sounds crazy; the first time i grew it I could not imagine that it would survive the winter. And I live WAY further north than you. Just think daffodils and tulips... )

It's good to know that guys, kinda looking forward to the fresh Garlic Scapes now. I hope it will be the last snow for this year. My flowers did had some damage, this Spring I won't be reward for as many flowers as last year, but it will give me an excuse to buy some more plants, LOL.....

>> http://www.growingformarket.co...

This was informative - the second paragraph includes:

"In warmer areas, the goal is to get enough top growth to get off to a roaring start in the spring, but not so much top growth that the leaves cannot endure the winter.

If garlic gets frozen back to the ground in the winter, it can re-grow, and be fine.

If it dies back twice in the winter, the yield will be decreased from the theoretical possible amount if you had been luckier with the weather."

(I added bolding and whitespace.)

Later:
"It is unwise to over-fertilize in the fall or the growth will be too fast and tender to survive cold conditions,"

I tried to find what the mechanism is for garlic's cold-hardiness but didn't find anything. One abstract hinted around, but the full text cost $36 so I may never know! But it sounds like the cloves are very cold-hardy once they get some roots out, but the above-ground green parts may freeze. If they freeze TWICE in one winter, the bulbs will suffer somewhat.

http://worldwidescience.org/to...


"This work shows that peeled garlic cloves demonstrate significant supercooling during freezing under standard conditions and can be stored at temperatures well below their freezing point (-2.7 C) without freezing. The nucleation point or 'metastable limit temperature' (the point at which ice crystal nucleation is initiated) of peeled garlic cloves was found to be between -7.7 and -14.6 C. Peeled garlic cloves were stored under static air conditions at temperatures between -6 and -9 C for up to 69 h without freezing, and unpeeled whole garlic bulbs and cloves were stored for 1 week at -6 C without freezing. (author)"

No wonder people are afraid to try growing garlic...

P.S.

Perhaps the best way to get amazing heirloom garlic is to send Dr. Dawg $20!

Hey, much cheaper than spending thirty-six bucks for an abstract, that may or may not be accurate.

Hey -- they could send me $10 for not-that-amazing, genuwine UP-grown garlic