mysterious levitating garlic

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mysterious levitating garlic
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Claire70

Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 144
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:28 pm Post subject: mysterious levitating garlic

Here's a puzzler...

I planted out my garlic cloves in a raised bed a month or so ago. The other week I noticed that several of the cloves were sitting on top of the soil - some in a more or less upright position, with their roots still just about in the soil, some toppled over, a single one an inch away from where it was originally but the rest in more or less the same place.

The only explanation I can think of is squirrels, but I had covered the bed with netting to keep the local cats off. I suppose if they were really clever they could have crawled underneath, as it wasn't fastened all the way round. But the cloves didn't seem to be nibbled, so why would they have bothered? (Unless they've eaten all the other cloves that I had presumed were still safely in the ground?!

)

Any ideas? (It hasn't happened since, as far as I can tell)

Nanny

Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 4520
Location: carms in wales

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:31 pm Post subject:
mice? not french ones or they would have eaten the garlic instead of leaving it in situ

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18409

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:38 pm Post subject:
I find that happens, and with onion sets too. Always assumed that it was birds, and stop doing it after a while once the alliums take proper root.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45460
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:38 pm Post subject:
i vote for mice

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:41 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

i vote for mice

Majority for mice!

inishindie

Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Posts: 23
Location: Ireland

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:42 pm Post subject: soil?
Hi What is the soil like? I would go for pesky rodents too but I have had times when the bulbs of onions and garlic push themselves out of the ground. It seems strange but if the soil is compacted the roots still grow and force the bulb up. Just a thought

Claire70

Joined: 22 Aug 2006
Posts: 144
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:52 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the quick replies, everyone's obviously got nothing better to do on a wet sunday evening in December

Mice: have only ever seen one, once, a few months ago now, but not impossible, I suppose.

Soil: this raised bed only got filled this autumn, it's a bit of a mixture from all over the place: some of our horrid sandy garden soil, some left-overs from grobags, some compost.... Not particularly compacted, I don't think.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45460
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 8:55 pm Post subject:
mice dont like parrafin on planted things

Tay

Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 2811
Location: Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 9:20 pm Post subject:
Perhaps moles could be the culprits? If there is no sign of their activity elsewhere on your plot, then mice are the other main option.

Sarah D

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 2584

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 9:24 pm Post subject:
Mice unlikely, I bet it's blackbird/s.

Mrs Fiddlesticks

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 10460

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 9:27 pm Post subject:
didn't Cab have a problem with a fox doing just that to his garlic?

LynneA

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21

Posted: Sun Dec 02, 07 9:28 pm Post subject:
Always the possibility with the amount of rain we've had lately that the soil's been washed away. (Has happened to some bulbs I potted in loam based mixture)

mochyn

Joined: 21 Dec 2004
Posts: 24585
Location: mid-Wales

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 07 7:58 am Post subject:
Blackbirds get my vote too. Have the cloves developed any roots yet? They are certainly strong enough to push out of any soil.

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 07 8:05 am Post subject:

dpack wrote:

mice dont like parrafin on planted things

How is this applied or used ?

cinders

Joined: 04 Jun 2007
Posts: 2437
Location: norfolk The daft old bat club

Posted: Mon Dec 03, 07 8:09 am Post subject:

LynneA wrote:

Always the possibility with the amount of rain we've had lately that the soil's been washed away. (Has happened to some bulbs I potted in loam based mixture)

I think this is the case too,i have some allium bulbs pushed up,i think due to rain

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