When a garlic scapes, it means it grows a flower stalk. The flower stalk is the scape. Hardnecks always scape while softnecks rarely do. The scapes are edible too. In fact, they are like a delicacy. If left on the plant bulbils will grow at the top of the scape.

If you just want to experiment with growing garlic then you could plant the garlic you find in the grocery store (which is a softneck variety). This way you can try it out to see if you like it (which you will since it's easy to grow) and it will also keep the cost very low. If you find that you want to get more serious then you can spend the extra money on a named variety that you find in seed catalogs and online. Or you could check the local farmer's markets near where you live to see if you can find some named varieties. The first couple of times I planted garlic I used the grocery store kind (I learned quite a bit too).

Rodney

This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 20:03

Supermarket garlic may work, but many times the bulbs are treated to prevent sprouting and they won't grow. About 75% of supermarket garlic comes from China.

I agree local farmer's markets are a good place to buy garlic for planting, as are garlic festivals and gatherings. Prices are much lower than online, and you can select your bulbs. Plant the larger cloves from larger bulbs for best results. What state do you live in?

TomNJ

I live just east of Atlanta, GA and have planted supermarket garlic before without much success. Its interesting to learn what scapes are and I need to plant the larger cloves, I alway wondered about that. We don't have much of a farmers market around here to buy garlic. Thanks for the replies..

When you buy garlic in the supermarket, if you want to know whether it is American garlic or Chinese garlic, all you got to do is check the roots. American garlic has it's roots still attached to the bulb. Chinese garlic, by law, MUST have it's roots removed. Which leaves a scooped out depression where the roots would be. (At least this was true a few years ago.)

aprilfool- Sorry to hear about your bad luck with supermarket garlic. Hopefully you have more success in the future. Below is a link on how to grow garlic from wegrowgarlic.com. I'm not promoting them or their garlic, just their guide on how to grow it.

Rodney

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Garlic

I HAVE GROWN GARLIC FOR 3 SEASONS. and never bought any seed from anywhere other than Asian markets , and later on my own garlics. And I did pretty good.
They also sell Hardnecks, sometimes in the grocery stores.

But for the new comer: '1- only plant the biggest outer cloves, NEVER the small cloves. 2- plant in fall, before or around your last frost date.. you can always come to this forum, read, research and ask questions.
I have found out that growing garlics is much easier than growing onions.