On 31 Jul 2009, at 21:29, Diane Whitehead wrote: > I grow two kinds of garlic, or I should say, of all the kinds of > garlic I have bought to plant over the years, two persist. > > One is a genuine garlic, with snaky stems and heads of bulbils. > > The other, I think, is a type of leek. It has sharp-edged hard > bulbils attached to the big bulb by white "threads". Some of these > break off and remain in the soil, so I have it growing forever > wherever I have planted it. I have begun digging it as I normally do > at this time, as the leaves are dry. It is also in flower - a ball of > pale pink flowers - and it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps it > would produce seeds. I don't know how long would be needed for this. > I wouldn't want to leave the bulbs in the ground until the rains > start, as they might not keep till next summer if they don't dry off > properly. > > Does anyone else leave theirs to go to seed, and does it take very > long for it to ripen? What you have there sounds like rocambole (Allium sativum ophioscordon) and elephant garlic (A. ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum). -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island http://maps.google.ca/maps/…