I just dug up the first of the hardneck, the Sonoran. I did not plant much of it and now am glad I did not. The bulbs are pretty small for this variety. I doubt I will get 2 lbs. out of this first batch. Disappointing. Hopefully the rest of the garlic will do better. It still looks like it will be another week or so before the rest of the hardneck will be ready to dig. Because of that, I still don't know how much I will have to sell but will keep you all posted as I hang it all to cure.

I dug up five garlic varieties yesterday and it is now hanging in my "Everything Else" greenhouse. You can smell garlic 50' away. The garlic will cure in the greenhouse for two weeks before I will de-stem and package the bulbs. These were all small-batch varieties, those that I only had a bulb or two to plant. Three were hardneck and two were softneck varieties. The major planting of garlics are still growing. It looks like it might be at least mid-June before I finish my harvesting.

I am well into digging up the garlic now. I have only two varieties yet to dig, the Chesnok Red (lots - for me at least) and Russian Giant (very little). I will probably dig those up in a couple of days.

The background of the second picture shows some of the garlic already hanging for the two-week curing. The other side of the greenhouse has an equal amount of garlic hanging.

Wow, you are making progress! Those stalks look great!

, Arlene.

All the garlic is now curing in the greenhouse. I don't have nearly enough, but I never do. I have to make better use of my garden in the fall in order to increase the garlic harvest. I am a poor "farmer".

I am so disgusted with myself. After filling the orders of my local, repeat customers (and I had to limit the amount that I could supply), I have practically no garlic left to ship. My late planting in combination with not having enough planting-size garlic cloves, really crippled my harvest this year. I won't have nearly enough garlic for my ATP/NGA repeat customers. This is embarrassing. Woe is me.

I will email each of you who requested garlic. Most of the news will unfortunately be bad.

I am not much of a "farmer".

That's ok, maybe next year! We'll let you live............ THIS time

I will wait for your 2017 garlic list then. Don't be so hard on yourself. You can't predict how nature and the seasons will be.
I have my memories of last years garlic.

my garlic and I make wonderful memories together

No one can guarantee a good growing season every year Ken. Anticipation will make us look forward to future harvests.

Thanks for understanding. I guess I represent a microcosm of farming.

Ken, with the year you had I think getting any crop was a miracle. Stop beating yourself up and make your (less stressful) plans for this fall. You have time to plan and to prep your garden with less stress than you've been having to deal with.

My vanilla orchid continues to put out new growth. katie

That's great, Katie. You got my last Vanilla Orchid and after waiting for two years, I have not found replacement seedlings. These are interesting orchids.

I hope to and plan to have a much better harvest next spring.

Not a problem for me either, it happens! I have plenty of local organic farmers around here so I'll try those. Will try again next year Ken!