Hello Sujiwan,

Softnecks will grow fine in your area. I live in Central New Jersey, same zone as you, and have excellent softneck crops. I plant around the end of October and cover with a couple of inches of mulch. The tops grow about 6-8 inches, and then go dormant for the winter. Growth resumes in early spring.

Tom

I grew a softneck type this year that I found at a farmer's market in NJ and it did just fine for me. They didn't know what type it was. It was so-so. I only grew it because I had the garden space for it and nothing else to grow there.

Just last week I found a Romanian red (hardneck) at The Common Market in Frederick, MD. I googled and found that it stores very well for a hardneck and it has a nice pungent taste.

Pardon my ignorance....I don't know a lot about growing garlic yet but...why do you want to grow a softneck? Is it just the ability to store well? Since I've mainly eaten softnecks in the past (until recent years) I find the hardnecks to be so much better.

I'm just outside of Harrisburg. I bought one of the Garlic Store softneck sampler packs last year and all four varieties did well for me. Unfortunatly I have no idea which is which because my notes were lost. I didn't even bother marking the rows because I knew they would get pulled up. I have to admit though, so far my favorite for flavor is a purple stripe hardneck I found at the grocery store.

Peggy,
It's really that I just want to try growing both types to learn how they differ. THe storage factor does make a difference to me though, since the whole point of my farmette is to grow vegetables for putting up and storage capacity ranks very high. I was really curious as to why PA did not recommend the softneck varieties for the state prompted my question.