Sorry, for anyone wondering, this was the garlic festival, in not-too-far upstate NY: http://hvgf.org/

Prices seemed to average about $12/pound for garlic, and there were rather expensive garlic products there. Pretty lucrative if you ask me... there were tens of thousands of people.

Peter, Your best advice will come from the grower you purchased your garlic from. Visit the hvgf.org web site, there is a list that has all the vendors at the fest. click the garlic farmers tab. That will take you to another window, click on garlic farmers again the list of farmers will come up with the info you need to contact them.

I'll be planting mine in a 2-3 weeks. That includes hardnecks, softnecks, and elephant garlic. Sometimes they sprout before it freezes and sometimes they don't but it doesn't matter. The sprouts are very hardy and the most damage I've seen to them is that their leaf tips might get a little frost bitten.

Rodney

I did ask the growers and got a wishy-washy answer. It sounds like maybe 2-3 weeks or so would be a good time, thanks.

The elephant garlic is not as cold-hardy as the others, so plant it deep and give it a secure winter mulch.

I usually try to get my garlic planted in mid-Oct, but yesterday I was digging daffodils for a bulb swap and they are actively rooting. If rest time is over, waiting won't be of much benefit.

In Zone 7 they say mid-Oct to mid-Nov, though I've planted as early as September. In Zone 6 you should be good to go now. There is no problem with hardiness of elephant garlic - the cloves are big and you'll probably be planting the top tip of the cloves a couple inches below the surface (at least that's what I do). Later, maybe Dec. or so, when all the neighborhood is raking and bagging leaves, I'll grind up a bunch and cover the bed in 2 to 3 inches of mulch. I get lots of softball size elephant garlics, and huge heads of all the others, so something is working. For me, spring planted of all of it has been far inferior - wouldn't recommend it.

Thanks, will the elephant garlic sprout through the 2-3 inches of mulch?

Yes, they will sprout through the mulch.

Rodney

Hi, I been getting different info on how long you can wait to plant after cracking the bulbs...some sites and farmers say within a day, but some say they start 2 weeks ahead of planting ? Any experience/ opinions would be greatly appreciated.

"Cracking the bulbs"?????

Do you mean separating the bulbs into individual cloves for planting? I would say there is not any particular rule about this, other than considering that when you separate them it makes them more susceptable to drying out. I often have separated cloves from when I dig in June (from bulbs that are partially damaged in some way or other reason), that I'll keep and plant in mid-October. I just try to store them in a way so they are less likely to dry out. Of course those cloves would never make it until Feb. or Mar.

I guess if I were planting acres worth, like farmers do, I'd separate bulbs ahead of time. Since I am planting a home garden worth for my own family's use, I would never separate the garlic ahead of time. Usually I will break each head apart right in the garden as I'm planting the bed. This is particularly important because I don't want to break apart more than I'm going to plant. Once I fill the spots I intend to plant, I take any unused heads back into storage for use in my kitchen. Anything I've already broken apart will not store so well for that use.

Thanks for your reply, yes I was referring to separating the cloves for planting. I have @ 200 lbs so I wanted to get a head start for mid-Oct. Planting but didn't want to end up with a bad crop because they dried out. How would you suggest to store the separated cloves for the next two weeks to keep them healthy ?

200lbs is a lot, so you have a big planting project. I'm able to keep my garlic very simply through the course of a year by not stacking it very deeply in cardboard boxes in a cool, dark area of my basement. For my seed garlic, after allowing it to cure after digging, I essentially make paper sacks taking a section of my newspaper, at normal folds to make an envelope of about 12" X 10", folding over the open edges a half inch or so and stapling in a few places. I can load in about a single layer's worth, label the outside with a marker, and staple closed the edge. I can stack those, not too deep, on a shelf in my cool basement, which has AC (so less subject to mold, etc.), but the cardboard or paper helps prevent excessive drying. In your case, I think so long as you're not spreading it out thin in a hot, dry area, I think you'll be okay for several weeks. Cardboard boxes or paper bags may be all you need, not more than 2 or 3 inches deep to avoid molding, but enough critical mass to avoid drying. My opinion anyway.

I really like the idea of the newspaper, I have mine in plastic soda crates lined with landscaping fabric. I'm ( hopefully) going to start selling some garlic next season to local restaurants and maybe some scapes also. I started last year with 25 lbs and harvested @ 140 lbs and added a bit from the festivals. Thanks for your input, practical experience goes a long way :)

I planted my little garlic patch... about 30 cloves in a wide row, German white, Russian red (both hardnecks), and 4 elephant garlic cloves. These guys can go on the outside of the fence as (hopefully) no one will eat them. Worked in two bags of dehydrated manure, and will add more mulch as it sprouts. Shouldn't have to worry about weeds at this point.

As an experiment I tried planting some leeks too to try and overwinter... probably too late, but we'll see, I just planted a small patch.

Frost in about 1-2 weeks time, if it arrives on time.

Friday, 10/17/2014, I prepared a new area and expanded my garden adding 20 square feet of garden space that was once native grass. I turned some of the grass under and picked some of it out. Saturday, 10/18/2014, I made 4 rows and planted about 120 garlic cloves from 4 garlic heads that I bought at the supermarket. So it is my understanding that I probably planted a softneck variety in Northern Virginia. I tried to find someone to trade for hardneck garlic bulbs, but had no success. I am told that if you plant the garlic cloves about 2 inches deep, they will begin to develop roots in the fall and break the soil in the very early spring. Harvest is predicted in July/August. Has anyone tried this with softneck in Northern VA? Do I need to take any precautions to protect the softneck variety since our winter typically gets down to about 0 degrees.