drdawg said:Rita, I have disappointed so many folks on this site the last couple of years (because of my poor "farming"), that many would probably cheer my not growing it. It just kills me to offer the garlic ahead of time and then telling so many of those who wanted it: "Sorry, I won't have enough to fill your order".

I need to go up to Augusta and have Dillard give me farming-lessons.

I think your being overly harsh on yourself. After all it's a garden and things just don't always go perfectly right. I am sure the next season will be much better.

Rita. It is too bad the garlic is not a "tropical". I seem to grow tropicals well.

drdawg said:From the very beginning I have told those that have been previous buyers that I would contact them before I harvest so that they get first choice of what I (hope to) have. I wanted them to have time to make a decision before offering the garlic to new purchasers.

Your point is well-taken, Sandy. I had pretty much decided to no longer do these pre-harvest offers. Your suggestion confirmed that thought. That will shorten the window-of-opportunity for a lot of my buyers, but at least they'll know that what they want, they'll get.

Ken, here's another thought that I have about your garlic sales... because you are pretty far south, your harvest is relatively early and you will know what you have to sell before many other sellers are even thinking about harvesting. And it will certainly be much less stressful for you...

Yep, I knew I was one of the (very) early birds when it came to garlic availability.

A beautiful day here, with sunshine and a high temp around 65F -- teeshirt weather!! Cleaned up weeds in another section of the veggie garden and cut down the asparagus stalks (which seemed to be a bigger job than I remembered it). DH is nearly finished with the base for the new greenhouse, slightly delayed by not being able to get the chainsaw started to cut one of the railroad ties.

Got up til almost 80 today. My garlic is starting to poke up little sprouts (YAY!!!) after going through a few iterations of thwarting the squirrels and chipmunks from digging it up.

My garden is put to bed for the winter. If it snowed tomorrow, I'd be ready (except for the one last hose I need to bring in). I will now live vicariously through all of you in warmer climates that can continue to garden

mom2goldens said:Got up til almost 80 today. My garlic is starting to poke up little sprouts (YAY!!!) after going through a few iterations of thwarting the squirrels and chipmunks from digging it up.

My garden is put to bed for the winter. If it snowed tomorrow, I'd be ready (except for the one last hose I need to bring in). I will now live vicariously through all of you in warmer climates that can continue to garden

And I thought 65 was warm!

Linda, does your garlic normally start sending up sprouts in the fall? My understanding was that anything that sprouts in the fall will freeze back and weaken the bulb. Do you mulch over your garlic?

Not true, Sandy. All my garlic puts up nice growth in the fall and overwinters with that green, top-growth. Of course, we only get down into the teens (a few times) and 20's (lots of times), so our freezes are not like yours in MI. Apparently, the hardneck garlic are able to take frozen tundra and even some of the softneck, according to some information and ATP posts I've seen.

drdawg said:Not true, Sandy. All my garlic puts up nice growth in the fall and overwinters with that green, top-growth. Of course, we only get down into the teens (a few times) and 20's (lots of times), so our freezes are not like yours in MI. Apparently, the hardneck garlic are able to take frozen tundra and even some of the softneck, according to some information and ATP posts I've seen.

It's a long way from zone 5 to zone 8, Ken; I probably should have clarified that I was talking about those of us in the north. If you'll recall, I do grow hardneck, softneck and Creole types successfully here (even during the winter a couple years back when we had frost something like 6-9 feet down in the ground). But my garlic has never sent up sprouts in the fall (presumably it's working on making roots), and I've read that the green tops won't survive in the north and the energy the plant puts into growing those tops will be wasted.

I think you are right, Sandy. I have read that in the cold climates, all the energy is directed into root development and you really don't want top-growth until spring. I am still amazed that you managed to grow Creole up there.

By the way, I have planted six varieties of Creole and four varieties of Turban garlics this fall. That's twice as many varieties as I've ever planted before. They better produce!

How many varieties are you planting altogether this year, Ken?

18-20, Sandy. I can't remember exactly. Of those, 7 will be new varieties.

Ken, the excitement of not knowing whether we'll "get lucky" this year adds to the fun.

It's ok that we get some small shoots on the garlic--it doesn't seem to hurt the production at all. It needs enough time to get roots, and it's so difficult to know when we'll get our first frost. I will mulch with straw once the weather finally cools down.

The Lord sent me TWO much-undeserved blessings today.

I had JUST finished mowing the yard and front lawn. I was exhausted, but had cranked up the edger, when a tree-trimming company pulled up and informed me they had to trim my huge yard tree from the power lines.

In a nutshell, they trashed my yard, cut the tree fully in half for me vertically after we struck up a deal for them to return next month and take down the rest of the tree, then cleaned up everything (ALMOST where it was when they arrived)!

I got SUNLIGHT along the entire back fence, twigs to rebuild the compost bins, and plant stakes from straight branches I cut before the chipper showed up. The squirrels are totally confused 'cause they can NO longer jump from the fence to the tree, and, I'm getting a great deal when they return.

And, when they had gone off for a lunch break, the Gen'l Contractor I've been trying to pin down for six months showed up, took a seat in the yard with me and got to my business, leisurely and thoughtfully.

Trust me, I've been patiently waiting for six months because his crew is THAT good... He's doing yet another project for my neighbor across the street, and his work is gorgeous!

There's NO WAY I could've planned this day.

But, God...

Gymgirl said:The Lord sent me TWO much-undeserved blessings today.

I had JUST finished mowing the yard and front lawn. I was exhausted, but had cranked up the edger, when a tree-trimming company pulled up and informed me they had to trim my huge yard tree from the power lines.

In a nutshell, they trashed my yard, cut the tree fully in half for me vertically after we struck up a deal for them to return next month and take down the rest of the tree, then cleaned up everything (ALMOST where it was when they arrived)!

I got SUNLIGHT along the entire back fence, twigs to rebuild the compost bins, and plant stakes from straight branches I cut before the chipper showed up. The squirrels are totally confused 'cause they can NO longer jump from the fence to the tree, and, I'm getting a great deal when they return.

And, when they had gone off for a lunch break, the Gen'l Contractor I've been trying to pin down for six months showed up, took a seat in the yard with me and got to my business, leisurely and thoughtfully.

Trust me, I've been patiently waiting for six months because his crew is THAT good... He's doing yet another project for my neighbor across the street, and his work is gorgeous!

There's NO WAY I could've planned this day.

But, God...

A friend was renting a house for just a few years, but wanted to turn a HEAVILY weed-and-brush-covered slope into a garden. Quite a large hillside, actually!

(His gardening experience can be guessed from the fact that he did not own a hoe, did not know what it was for, and did not realize he would have to do "some weeding" after turning a wild patch into a garden.)

Anyway, he wandered out there with whatever tool he owned (it was either a steel rake or a small shovel), and started pulling weeds one at a time.

I think he was starting to realize that he would be pulling weeds for the rest of his life, sicne they were growing back faster than he was pulling.

Well, it does seem like divine intervention, but before he was discouraged, a big bulldozer owned by the town was driving past and it BROKE DOWN right in front of his house. They were in a tizzy about getting their bulldozer off the road when they could barely drive it, yet had no access to the town's tow truck.

He's a charmer, so they were GRATEFUL that he let them leave that 'dozer right where they had to leave it anyway (on his property, mostly off the road) ... on the condition that, when they came back, they would plow up his slope with their huge bulldozer.

And thus - Lo and Behold - he didn't need a hoe after all! And an endless task was reduced to watching a team of town employees do it for him, and offering them coffee.

I think Linda and my old friend must have an inside track with Someone!

RickCorey said:A friend was renting a house for just a few years, but wanted to turn a HEAVILY weed-and-brush-covered slope into a garden. Quite a large hillside, actually!

(His gardening experience can be guessed from the fact that he did not own a hoe, did not know what it was for, and did not realize he would have to do "some weeding" after turning a wild patch into a garden.)

Anyway, he wandered out there with whatever tool he owned (it was either a steel rake or a small shovel), and started pulling weeds one at a time.

I think he was starting to realize that he would be pulling weeds for the rest of his life, sicne they were growing back faster than he was pulling.

Well, it does seem like divine intervention, but before he was discouraged, a big bulldozer owned by the town was driving past and it BROKE DOWN right in front of his house. They were in a tizzy about getting their bulldozer off the road when they could barely drive it, yet had no access to the town's tow truck.

He's a charmer, so they were GRATEFUL that he let them leave that 'dozer right where they had to leave it anyway (on his property, mostly off the road) ... on the condition that, when they came back, they would plow up his slope with their huge bulldozer.

And thus - Lo and Behold - he didn't need a hoe after all! And an endless task was reduced to watching a team of town employees do it for him, and offering them coffee.

I think Linda and my old friend must have an inside track with Someone!

Great story, I would never be so lucky.

If it had been me, the brakes would have failed instead of the engine and that bulldozer would have plowed my house down the slope and into the woods.