Actually I'm trying to do the same as you right now... I had a couple of my red Chinese softnecks bolt this year (they usually don't) and have a few bilbils. Most of the harvest was tiny BUT I did get a couple of good sized bulbs which is making me rethink if I should grow out the bulbils. I have some ajo rojo and sanoran growing from bulbils right now but they still need another year to grow. They'r doing pretty well though..

I've read that growing from bulbils can rejuvenate your stock.

On another note, I bought some Californian softnecks (well they were supposed to be) that didn't do so well here in California. Lol Go figure... I'm gonna try next fall with this year's meager survivors.

When I have grown out bulbils, they formed rounds the first year. When I replanted the rounds, they produced nice bulbs. Still, it's a two-year project.

If you want to give the Killarney a second try, I would do it the regular way, by replanting some of your best cloves.

I think if you read growers notes, it is quite common for varieties from significantly different places to mope, sometimes for a couple years before settling in. Some may never settle down in one place or another. Follow planatus' advise and plant back your best cloves this fall. And if you want a one two punch plant back the bulbils, too. That won't take much space, but will give you a big enough planting that something might very well stand out. Then you will have your new seed stock.

Hmmm - I had the same problem you had with probably the exact same source in Washington but with 4 varieties - German Brown, Tzan, Romanian Red and White Iowa. I had them in right next to my old standby's Metichi and Siberian and of the new ones, I had around 80% winter kill and the rest are anemic growers at best.

First time in 10 years from this source that things just didn't turn out as planned so I'm doing exactly the same as you are - growing the remaining ones out for bulbils and going for the 2 year replenishment cycle. Last time I did this, I replanted the bulbils in fall on 2 inch centers and got nice rounds for the next year's planting along with enough extra rounds to use like standard cloves for cooking. I've tried planting the largest cloves off of smallish bulbs before but I haven't had a lot of success that way.

Thank you for all the different perspectives. We shall see when I harvest the garlic and the bulbils (hoping in about two weeks - they really need to dry down after the 3" of rain from Arthur yesterday and today) and replant in the fall.

Gardening is certainly not for impatient people or pessimists!

Thanks again.