The hardneck is starting to get some die-back of their lower leaves. Perhaps in another week I can dig these bulbs up. The softneck and Creole are at least 2-3 weeks away. My "Everything Else" greenhouse will soon have the aroma of curing garlic.

Hurray!

I'm excited!

I have several garlic that are two inches high and many more coming up. I will be sure to plant them more carefully next year.

That sounds promising, Mary. I am about ready to harvest mine and yours are just beginning to grow. Perhaps by October, huh?

Ken, you definitely get a much longer "break" between digging and replanting garlic than we do in the north!

Mary, I'm so glad to hear your garlic is coming up for you -- I hope you will have a good harvest, as well

I'm really pleased with the way my garlic is looking, particularly the Creole type that I planted for the first time; it's supposed to be a 'southern' type of garlic, but if anything the Creole plants are larger than the other ones. So far the only problem I've seen is that the leaves had some yellowing on them, but after searching the internet I believe it was due to cold weather; apparently the "silverskin" type of garlic is more prone to that, and the Ajo Rojo (or maybe all Creole garlic?) is a "silverskin." At any rate, the leaves seem to have actually greened back up for the most part... I'm also anxious to see if my bulbs are any larger this year, after being more selective and planting my larger cloves as well as spacing my plants out further.

Sandy - what date did you plant the Creole type? I'm buying some from Ken and thought I'd only be eating and enjoying it but I'd love to try planting some!
Thanks.

I am getting both kinds, eating and planting. Leaving it up to Ken to choose. I am betting that I will only have a large toe of garlic from last year's planting judging by the couple that got frozen and I dug them up. The seemed bigger than when I planted last fall.

Sandy, by and large, the Creole bulbs tend to run a bit smaller than the hardneck and softneck bulbs. Of course some varieties of hard and softneck are smaller bulbs, but some of what I grow will have 1/4 lb. bulbs. For many decades, the Creole was considered to be a sub-variety of the silverskins, so there really wasn't a category called "Creole". A decade ago DNA research showed the Creole to be a distinct family of garlic and thus there are now three main categories of garlic.

Planting the larger cloves and giving those cloves room to expand into bulbs will certainly produce larger bulbs. I look forward to your harvesting the Creole and telling all of us how they look. Did you tell me that you mulch your garlic in the winter?

Some of my garlic is now easily two feet tall but I am now seeing a bit of browning of some of the lower leaves of the hardneck. I generally will dig up the hardneck a couple of weeks before digging up the Creole and softneck.

I miscalculated. The Sonora and Shilla showed signs this afternoon of being ready to dig, so I dug up four of the five segments of them. I will give that last segment another day and then dig it. I have it hanging in the greenhouse where it will stay for two weeks and cure. Some has scapes , most don't. So those two varieties are leading the hardneck pack. I still have Russian Red, Russian Giant, Purple Glazier, and Maiskij hardneck in the ground as well as all the softneck and Creole. Those other three hardneck varieties are not quite ready.

Arlene (Pirl), I planted all of my garlic on October 26th last fall; basically you want to plant it whenever you would plant daffodils, tulips and the like. You want it to have a chance to start making roots, but not tops (which would get frozen back and deplete some of the bulb's energy).

Ken, I "kind of" mulch the garlic; after planting it I always add a layer of compost, and usually I cover it with "floating row cover" but last fall I just gave it a layer of leaves and stuff that we had put on the garden... It seemed to get a little bit later start this year, but kind of hard to tell for sure with all the weather variations.

Interesting about the hardneck types not making the scapes... has that happened for you before?

Thanks, Sandy. We usually plant garlic on Columbus Day here. I may try some Ken's way, your way and my way and check the results.

That sounds like a great plan -- unless, of course, someone else has another way, then you can try that, too!

My problem is that I am in the south and you are in the upper Midwest and Northeast. I only know what has worked for me but I am a hobbyist grower, not a commercial farmer. My garlic grow tops in the fall and those top persist, though grow little, during the winter months. I wish I could tell you the best time to plant garlic in your areas, but I simply can't. I have no experience outside the south. I would think your Extension Service could figure that out for you.

Two years ago I had lots of scapes. I don't know what the percentage of scape production was. It was not important to me. Last year I cut all the scapes off as they formed. This year, with so few scapes evident, I just let them grow.

We do have one nursery that made its name with herbs and garlic so I'll ask them the next time I visit.

Oh, right -- I forgot that your garlic would just keep growing (more or less, at least) during the winter ! So the cold temps that you had last winter weren't a problem, then, apparently ? Now that I think about it, the temps that you had were probably a lot like what we have in the early spring, when my garlic is already up. In zone 7a Arlene's conditions may be much more like yours than mine; I totally agree with checking with the Extension Service or a local gardener that grows garlic!

Cross posted -- that's a good idea, Arlene!

We had a couple of mornings where the temperature dipped into the low teens, a half dozen more mornings in the mid to upper teens, and several dozen mornings in the 20's. The garlic tops never showed any signs of stress. I do mulch my garlic beds with oak leaves, about 4", but I don't think I need to. I just like to incorporate those leaves into the soil after I dig the garlic up.

That's interesting about the tops growing a bit in fall. I left onions out in the garden (bunching I think) and they had 6" tops. In the spring they were still green and now are growing again. So I wonder if I planted earlier this year (the garlic) and mulched. The ABG lady said to plant 2" down. I wonder if they grew a little in the fall if the greenery would survive to spring. The onions had what little snow we had to cover them plus were in a shady spot so kept that coverage through the ups and downs of frost this spring.

I wish I knew, Mary. The tops did not grow a "bit" in the fall. Depending on variety, most were 1'+ tall. When we really got cold (for us, teens and 20's) there was little noticeable growth and then in the spring, they took off again, some of it over well over 2' tall.

I think the snow actually insulated your bulbs from heavy freezes. I don't know how deep your soil freezes in the winter. Ours does not freeze at all. Even with teens and 20's, it just doesn't stay cold enough, long enough for our ground to freeze.

I plant mine approximately 2" deep as well. And I do mulch, but don't know that I really need to. I just try to cover all my bases when growing. I guess many folks would call it "over-kill".