Neo,

It's exciting getting a box of garlic huh. I wish seed saver would have had somebody better picking out your bulbs from the bin. that's just careless or not giving a crap to send somebody a rotten bulb. Sounds like you have some purple sstripes there..they should be ok and the soft neck artichokes will grow in the south. You said they sent you some German extra hardy, that's a porcelain. I've read the ones you really don't want to have down there in the heat are the rocamboles, roja, german red etc

-bloo

Well, to be fair, the rotten ones didn't look bad on the outside, I only found out they were rotten when I broke them open. The person who filled my order probably just glanced at them and thought they were fine.

If I order garlic again I might try a place like The Garlic Store, which has different sampler packs for areas with cold winters and areas with mild winters. I didn't find out about that place until it was too late, but that sounds like a nice idea for those of us newbies who don't know what we should get.

Bloosquall above also sells does garlic, as does Mike & Karen at www.wegrowgarlic.com.

TomNJ

just make sure you draw an accurate map (use land marks or directions of north, south etc for reference) of which varieties you planted so come harvest you know which are which - do not rely on memory. then make 3 copies of that map and put each in a separate safe place. you can ignore all that if all you want to do is eat them and not grow from your stock next year preferring to order seed again.

tom

Neo,

Both Karen at www.wegrowgarlic.com and I will sell you exactly what you want and as many as you want...we will give you advice and tell you how many cloves are in that bulb so you'll know how many to buy. We will give you a choice not a set pack of bulbs that you may not want, Getting your stock from a smaller grower is less expensive and better service. The garlic store is $22.00 lb. We are half that for the same product. When I buy garlic I get it from Karen

Did you know that the big box garlic suppliers buy some of what they sell from little guys who grow 10,000 - 20,000 plants a year and just don't want the hassle of selling it themselves. Don't tell anybody...it's a secret. lol

-bloo

take Tom's message to heart. I bought some beautiful garlics last year from a local person who grow many types. I did do a chart..but never found it when I was harvesting. And besides that when I pulled them up I never kept the rows of pulled garlic in different piles. (They were planting in rows, each being a different variety)..So I have garlic but
don't know who is who..except some large redish striped ones (they look different). Getting ready to plant again..but no notes on any..they are all good...martha/zucchini

I bought garlic from Bloosquall this year and was really happy with it =) Nice personal customer service too, just my vote of confidence...

Lori

newbie here too - planted today!!

I bought from wegrowgarlic because I could order a single bulb if I wanted. Once we figure out what will grow/what we like, I can buy 1/2lb or more. The bulbs seemed wonderful!! Not a single rotten one; all firm.

I had prepped my two rows Friday. Lotsa good stuff mixed with nasty clay.

Saturday morning, I munched up straw and grass clippings. Saturday evening, my kids spread the mulch everywhere and I had difficulty finding the improved rows.

Although I know I should wait two years to plant, I prepped for planting today. I popped the bulbs and placed the cloves into baggies - 14 varieties. I then labeled the baggies 1-14. I tried to plant one clove of each variety in numerical order. Repeat.

I grabbed 3-4 bags at one time, assuming they were in numerical order. Mind you, my 23mo was supervising. I thought I had baggie #9 in my hand and looked down to read #4!! UGH.

So much for my attempt at a map.

Then I watered well.

I'll add crushed leaves to the mulch as soon as my trees drop them.

Tom, I've got a graph paper map of what I planted where plus plastic plant markers in the actual garden, but maybe I should have some other kind of backup just in case. I'm also trying not to plant similar looking garlic next to each other (so I'll plant a white softneck between two purple hardnecks, etc). I do want to keep track of what variety is what so I'll know which do best for planting next year, and I would like to have my own planting stock for next year, but I guess it all depends on how well this batch does.

I've got 7 of the 10 varieties planted now. We got more rain so I have to wait for the garden to dry out again before planting the rest. The first variety I planted, Chet's Italian Red, is already sprouting. I didn't think they'd sprout this early. Maybe it depends on variety. This one is a softneck. I haven't noticed any of the rest sprouting.

Another newbie here. I have planted garlic for the first time this fall. I got some of it from wegrowgarlic.com and some from ebay.

I have 29 varieties, 2000 cloves. I plan to sell some at the farmer's market along with leaks, a variety of onions and my host of herbs. I was very surprised this year to see all the fresh veggies and no real "spice-er-ups" like garlic or herbs.

I live near Pittsburgh and have been planting for 6 weeks. I've got a written log of what went in where, a hand drawn map, a spreadsheet and laminated labels on posts. I hope the double redundant system will do me well.

Next year, assuming thigs go well, I want to use my crops and see 5000 cloves. I have a bad habit of doing things really large. (10 kids, go figure).

I love to cook with the bland Argintina Silverskin I can get at the local food co-op, so I can't imagine what Red Toch, MEtechi, Bogatyr and all the other amazing varieties are going to be like.

novelist - excited here too for the less bland varieties I've planted!! I rarely cook without garlic. I must admit, when shopping for seed garlic, I was shocked, at first, at the price. Now I'm getting it:))

I wish I could find a garlic grower, with many varieties, at our farmer's market. We only found Spanish Roja. Perhaps it grows the best here???

I may be more excited for the garlic then I am for all the new flower and tomato varieties I have for 2010.

I wanted to carefully track what was planted where to swap in the summer, but since mom-brain took "control", swapping may have to wait for another year.

I kept a chart of how I planted my garlic in 3'x10' and 3'x 16' raised beds. It still got mixed up. This year I planted 66 varieties and between each variety I put a piece of plastic conduit, cheap 85 for 10ft, labeled with the variety and then a plant marker on the other side of the bed. I hope this works.

I also have ordered from Karen at wegrowgarlic.com. I have gotten garlic from several sources and so far they are the best.

If your planting charts get lost and you can't remember what was planted where, just save cloves from the best growing and what you think is the best tasting garlic and replant them. Problem solved.

What with people getting all foody they truly want to know what variety they are buying BY NAME and not just that you personally like it and so on. At least in my experience, that is how it is.

It wouldn't be a total disaster if I lost track of what garlic was what, but I just like to know what the varieties are. I dunno, I might need to buy more for some reason and would want to know which varieties did well and which didn't, or maybe I'd want to do a swap with somebody and they want something specific, or who knows what else.

hi all im new to grlic growing too.

i planted 5lbs of German Extra-Hardy and 10 lbs of New York White all from jonny's seed.

i ended up with abought 500+ plants..LOL.

on the new york white [soft neck] i did plant some of the smaller ones to see what hapens.most of this will be braided and sold at market.

sry for the big pic.
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