So many garlics...

The first signs of fall signal it's time to get ready for planting.  By now we pretty much know which garlic varieties, and how much, to grow for next year.

Choosing, however, isn't easy. There's a dizzying array when it comes to garlic. Hot ones, mild ones, spicy ones, gigantic ones, small ones, striped ones, purple splotched ones, ones for hot and cold climates--over 150 varieties. And the descriptions always look so tantalizing, we sometimes want to try them all at the same time! Still, in any given year, only so much can be planted. That's true whether you're a farmer or an urban gardener.

Three bulbs of Estonian Red garlic.

This year we'll be tilling enough ground to plant 200 pounds of prime garlic seed, with areas for garlic bulbils and green garlic. We'll be planting large quantities of some of the favorites we grew this year, such as Khabar, Georgian Crystal, Inchelium Red, Siberian, Estonian Red--a very rare garlic that, in the right conditions, can grow to almost baseball size--and Chesnok Red. Plus we'll be trying a few new varieties, like German Extra Hardy. Our German Extra Hardy seed stock comes from a local grower, and it's got some serious size on it.

The fun starts next week with preparation for planting, if everything goes according to plan. We'll keep you posted on how things go.